Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There weren’t many things you could say with confidence, but…
The Rosen brothers, in charge of Rosen’s Rental Vans, could truly say they’d had the second weirdest working day of their career. No exaggeration needed.
23 customers came in on Tuesday, 34 came on Wednesday, 43 Thursday, 65 Friday, one hundred on Saturday - Jeff Rosen had gotten so tired of repeating the same small talk like a Chatot - “So, where are you headed?” “Ohhh, sounds fun!” “Early holiday?”
They never rented much. Just the van. They just took the bare essentials and sometimes never came back with them. The brothers were only just breaking even, even if the entire lobby had been packed wall-to-wall a few days ago with grumbling travellers, wailing babies and growling Pokemon of all shapes and sizes.
And he knew full well no-one actually took his vans on a holiday, because they always said the exact. Same. Thing. Every. Single. Time.

“It’s the recent weather...thing here, made me realise how crap this region is…”
“Oh, it’s the sun! I can’t stand it now.”
“My husband hates the rain and I get reaaaally easily sunburned…”
“I’m just worried it’s gonna happen again…”

Anyone would up and leave the region if they’d had to live through a whole week of burning sunlight and heavy rain, taking their turn at ruining gardens, weather forecasts and families.

The two local gangs, Team Aqua and Magma full of...probably teenagers, vandals, and adults with nothing else to do, one headed by a fish-lover pirate, and an arrogant professor wannabe heading the other, had done...that. Not painted their mark on the side of Mauville Mall, held another rally.

No, they’d almost brought about the end of days.

It was almost amusing to watch them swear to wake up Groudon because of Kyogre, and wake up Kyogre because of Groudon - like kids playing shotgun infinity infinity against shotgun infinity.
Only not many people expected them to actually do it.
One thing led to another. Another thing got out of control, quickly.

The days were split between scorching sun and rolling storms. Patchworks of weather, almost like some kind of fight. People overlooked it as more of Hoenn’s mad weather patterns - until it kept going. It didn’t pass over, it didn’t fix itself.

The world realised Maxie and Archie meant business.
So did Maxie and Archie, in fact - but it wasn’t like they could fix what they’d done.

The days were patchworks of national emergencies, massive emigration, full hospitals, people charging into the Rosen’s Rental Vans for the sake of a drink, then hiding there for the whole night when the floodwaters started to rise again. The Rosen brothers watched as the leaders of Aqua and Magma tried as hard as they could to keep their pathos, stay logical and calm, on live television.

The highlight of their nights was when someone threw a beer bottle at Maxie. He didn’t come out from under the lectern for about a minute.

And then, two ten-year-old children captured the huge beasts seen in Sootopolis.
As though it never happened, the weather...reset.

Which meant that two ten-year-old children ended up on public television, after a week of absolute chaos, getting oversized medals hung around their necks while police made vague statements about what would happen to those responsible.
It was cute, yes. Everyone agreed - they were the national darlings.

But the ‘Week of Wild Weather’, as everyone from Kanto to Sinnoh called it, was the national embarrassment of the century.

The other Rosen brother lay down in his office chair for the night, confident that surely, no-one would come in when there were stars in the sky and the lights inside were dim. Munching on a packet of chips, he squinted at the glare of his computer.

It felt kind of satisfying to Jeff, even though all he’d lost were hours of sleep, when the police released their report on what they would do about the culprits. The members, the grunts of Team Magma and Aqua would only get convicted if they committed any actual crimes like theft or assault.

But, for the ringleaders...

Scrolling slowly down his social media feed, he saw another website muscling in on the newest story.

“Calls for arrest of Team Aqua and Magma leaders Archie Smith and Maximillian Wentforth, as well as their four admins, Tabitha, ‘Shelly’ Kelly, and Matthew, for acts of ecological terrorism, robbery, and other charges. The new Public Enemies Number One?...”

- - -

That evening, the final two customers that Mitchell and Jeff would see arrived.

Pulling into the drive of Rosen’s Rental Vans in a crowded airport shuttle, three people wrapped in long, flowing outfits stepped out into the empty parking lot. They eyed up the advertisement outside, the bright grins on the posters up above. Everything seemed ideal. Even if it wasn’t, this was the closest rental place they could find.
“Come on, Courtney - Tabitha. We’ll be in, and out.” the figure in the huge, black, hooded cape said, trying to sound...not ominous.
“You got the cash, sir?”
“Yes, Tabby - ” Maxie replied, holding up a briefcase stuffed to the seams with hundred-dollar notes, “Also, you...might want to break that habit of calling me ‘sir.’ Call me…’buddy’ or something else like that. It’ll look suspicious otherwise.”

Tabitha chose not to say anything about the bills sticking out of the case.

- - -

Pulling into the other drive of Rosen’s Rental Vans on three mountain bikes tied to a small trailer, three people dressed up to the nines in hoodies and shorts came to a stop in the nearly empty parking lot. Checking again that the small hill of fuel cans hadn’t shed some cargo all over the roads, like a trail leading directly here, they slowly, deliberately, casually strolled into the second entrance.

“Matt? Shelly? You good?...” the figure in the hoodie, airplane pants and sleep mask over his scar asked, trying to hide his Sevii accent, “It, ah...might be a bit hard to act casual after biking all this way. Try your best.”
“I could do that for a week!” the man behind him declared, “I could probably go from one side of Hoenn to the other like this,”
“Bro, don’t make me regret doing this again…” Archie chuckled, looking cautiously back at the tempting-looking mountain bikes, “You think I thought this through well enough?”
“Yeah, yeah! Totally!”

- - -

“Calls have been made for anyone that sees them to call the police immed - “
And then the door slammed.
Mitchell Rosen sat up in his seat, snapping to attention into his normal, back-straight, wide-smile, attempt-at-casual position, watching the two parties as they came in. Quickly, he made a motion to his brother to go and handle them as he called over the party on the right in the gothic vampire outfits.
“Hello, Rosen’s Rental Vans, how can I help you?” he and his brother repeated out of sync, doing the signature head tilt.

“I would like...one van, and I’ll rent it for...three weeks,” the man dressed in the black cape requested, planting his hands on the counter firmly.
“Ooooo-kay. Let me get that up for you…Driver’s license, please.”
Maxie silently handed over a fake one. The picture was faked - just another man with similar hair colour and facial structure.
Again, and again when Mitch turned away, he re-adjusted the cape.

- - -

“Oh, ah...just the van, thanks,” the man in the hoodie and sleep mask asked, “For...three weeks.”
“Cool. Let me get that sorted. Just the van?”
“Just the van, yeah…”
“Driver’s license, please.”
“Here,” Archie said, handing him another fake one. The picture was real, at least - him with a decent bunch of makeup on his scar, the beard was less...Kyogre-ey.
He hoped no-one here knew him from college.

Around then Jeff gave the first knowing look to his brother, while Mitchell pointed frantically at his lit-up computer screen.

“Just gotten off the plane, huh?”
“...Yeah, actually!” Archie replied, cautiously, “We just flew here from...Unova. Honestly, those really long flights just take it out of you completely -”
“Oh, I knooow,” Jeff sighed, typing away.
“Thought I might try and get some sleep in the back seat,” Archie continued, motioning towards the sleep mask, “hopefully get on Hoenn time.”
“I thought you were driving?”

“No, my…” Archie began, turning back to Matt, “...my bro just couldn’t get a hotel room with 3 beds.” He yawned to try and prove he was sleep-deprived.
“Ah.”

- - -

“Names?” Mitchell asked the cloaked figures in front of him, expecting some variation on Gandalf.
“Richard L. ...Grant.” started the man in the cloak.
“Uh, Katie Grant,” mumbled the girl with the purple hair behind him, lightly.
“Wait, why - “ started the other man behind him, “Oh. Yeah. Michael Doe.”

—

“Names, please?” Jeff asked the group in front of him.
“Oh! Yeah,” the leader began, “I’m Cam, she’s Marie, he’s Bartholemew.”
“What?” asked the big, burly man at the back, as flatly as possible.
“Preferred name, Mew.”

—

“So...if you don’t mind me asking,” Mitchell asked, tapping slowly on his computer screen, “What’s with the...uh, cool capes?”
Maxie paused for a moment, checking if the thrown-together fabric pile looked convincing
“Oh, it’s traditio - “
“We’re larpi - “
“We’re very nervous about getting sunburned,” Maxie explained, somehow shutting up Tabitha and Courtney with two confused looks, “And it’s...traditional in my family, but they - my friends - they do it for a larp - sorry. Lark.”
“Aaah,” Mitchell sighed, “Don’t feel self-conscious.”
“Oh, I wasn’t.”
“There was a guy coming in the other day,” Mitchell explained, leaning back in his chair - “Looked exactly like you guys do, but the cape was white...”

- - -

“Alright, we’ve got you one van for three weeks,” Jeff confirmed, fishing out a pair of keys and taking out some brochures, “For three people?”
“Yep. Three people,” Archie confirmed, grinning now from ear to ear. “Sounds great - hey, thanks for getting us this at, like...9 in the evening, I know you just wanna go back home…”
“It’s my pleasure.”

- - -

“There is one problem, though…” both Jeff and Mitchell told Maxie and Archie in perfect unison -

“There’s only one van, and it didn’t come back, uh...completely refueled, so you might have to...come back tomorrow…” Jeff explained, twirling his pen in his hand.

“What?” Maxie gasped, “Well, I suppose we can take it then - can I have the keys? I’m sure it’s alright if someone returns theirs tomorrow - “

“Does that mean...you have to keep it?” Archie questioned, “Is it your van? ...No, I’m kidding. What, is something wrong with it?”

“The guy over there also wants it.”
Calmly, Mitchell pointed over at the crowd of travellers a few feet away.

The party in the huge black capes turned to see a group of tired, bundled up tourists, raising their eyebrows and trying not to stare at each other’s faces.
For a few seconds, Archie tried to be a frequent flyer who’d just sat in an economy seat, not sleeping, not eating, for twenty hours. Maybe, if he squinted, whatever bags under his eyes would get a little bigger.

Maxie, standing nonchalantly a few feet away, watched Archie’s eyes shoot open.
Silently, he mouthed: holy crap.
Casually, this not-so-mysterious figure flicked the lock of red hair back into his hood.
In and out, he reminded himself, in and out.
He had a plan, he had ideas now.

“I’ll take the trailer, and the insurance,” whispered Maxie, smirking and handing over some extra money from the briefcase. A little bit fluttered onto the floor behind the counter.
“Oh,” Shelly groaned quietly, “Great.”
Maxie simply let Mitchell pick it up, letting him feel it in his hand for a few seconds before he quietly slipped it into his pocket.
It was real, all right - he’d recognise a fake note better now than ever.
“Keep it.”
“Oh, it’s fine - we don’t really do tips in Hoenn…”
“Well - I do.”

“Alright, I’LL take the trailer, the insurance, and the fluffy car seats!” Matt offered bombastically, slamming his credit card on the counter, “Why not?”
“That’d be $420 in total,” Jeff confirmed, watching his brother mime frantically to him at the other desk.

“I suppose I’d better take the insurance, the fluffy car seats - “ Tabitha offered, straining to see the list of addons.
“Can I have a map as well?” Shelly offered, handing over twenty dollars and giving Tabitha a look of mild annoyance.
“Actually, we just use a GPS -”
“A GPS, too!” both admins ordered.
“And the air freshener...how cheap is...is that?...!”
“And the train tickets!”
“And more insurance!”

“They have a bus pass as well.” Courtney noticed, tall enough to see and loud enough to hear. Matt frantically, before she even finished her sentence, snatched the brochure off the table -
“The bus pass!” he and Tabitha cried, only getting a small head shake from the brothers.
“Hah,” Courtney remarked flatly, “There aren’t any. Maxie just ordered the twenty-dollar magazine while you were distracted!”

“We’ll order the - “
“AUGH! MY FOOT!”
A loud crash in the background as Maxie dropped the huge sun-roof on display.
A small flutter of paper, as the distinctly full magazine stand hit the ground too.

“We’ll order the, uh, dispatchable sunroof,” Tabitha finished, watching Maxie throw his entire briefcase to Tabitha, hopping around on one foot. Courtney, completely silent, grabbed the entire stand of magazines.

“The sunroof - “
Jeff, groaning loudly, shoved a hand in Shelly’s face before she could finish.
“Alright! Fine! The caped...wizard guys get the van. You other guys get a really, really big discount tomorrow.”

Kicking the briefcase under the desk, Mitchell practically threw the keys to the van at Maxie. “Here. Just go.”
He tried waving them out, but the caped man still stood there. For...the first time, now that he thought about it, they smirked.

“I will,” Maxie replied, “and thank-you very much for your service.” The group quickly made a beeline for the door, not turning to look at the other little crowd. The leading man in the sleep-mask and hoodie shot him a confused stare.
In and out, Maxie reminded himself. Looking into the glaring moon, he tossed the key in his hands with a satisfying jingle.
“No need,” he whispered, watching Courtney jabbing at the ‘exit door’ button.
“Now, Tabitha, did you end up ordering the sun-roof or no - “

“Hey, you.”
A hand on his back.
A swivel back around.
The cape fell apart, the single button popping off, under the touch of someone slightly more strong than a gust of wind, and fell onto the floor.
And whoever just did that stared at his same old waistcoat-and-stockings setup, the completely unchanged zigzag haircut and chuckling as always.

“I thought you said you were gonna stay in Hoenn to fix your own mess,” Archie questioned the man he’d just caught, “And more importantly...not screw me over again?”

“I…”

“Would it have hurt you to go somewhere else or something when you saw me?” he continued in a hushed, quiet voice, backing him away from the door, “It’s not like it matters to ‘y whether I get...put away or not, and most of these places ‘round here don’t shut ‘till ten…”

“Please, break it up...” Mitchell called loudly, refusing to get more involved.
His brother hastily looked up what the leader of Team Magma looked like, but he just found far shots of them alongside the leader of Team Aqua - mostly in some kind of screaming match or older, happier, less accurate ones.
The details were faint, but he noticed mostly the bright red…
Hair. Shaped exactly like a zigzag.
“Oh, my god.”

“You see what I’m saying?” Archie finished, “...Maxie?”
“First of all, I think this counts as screwing each other over, Archie.”
And with that, Maxie flicked the sleep mask and hoodie off of Archie’s head.
“Oh, you bastard.”
There it was. The X-shaped scar on his forehead. Cringing as both the owners gasped, he slapped a hand over his forehead, fumbling to get the hoodie back over his hair.
Click, click, the security cameras switched on.

“Aren’t you the guy in charge of Team Aqua?”
“Uhhh…” Archie began, “No?”
He grabbed Shelly and Matt by the scruffs of their necks - and left the store. Dashing across the tarmac, he didn’t turn to look. Like that - he was gone.

“You’re kidding me,” Mitch groaned.
“THEY’LL BE BACK! GET UNDER THE DESK!”

He forced the doors shut as he watched the owners duck behind the counter, quietly ordering his friends to get out while he frantically tried to shove the hoodie back over his hair again. The sleep mask flew off hit the tarmac silently, but there wasn’t any point in picking it back up.

“Run, Matt, get on the bike! We’ll have to try pedalling!”
How fast could he go? How long could he go?
“Shelly, get the fuel trailer! We’ll leave it near the gas station!”
“Uh - “
“We’ll leave it!”

Meanwhile, Maxie had wrapped what was left of the cloak around his head and shoulders, shuffling around the side of the building, holding the keys close to his chest and running over any gap wide enough for it to fall down.
“There’s the van! Right there, see?”

Courtney broke cover, dashing to the side of the huge black peoplemover. Everyone turned to hear the thunk, thunk, ka-thunk of her trying to get the door open - no use. The keys lightly jingled as Maxie tossed them to Tabitha, who tossed them to Courtney, who herded the three inside the car - practically shoving them into their respective seats.

The car doors slammed in sync.

Sitting at the driver’s seat, Maxie rolled down the window to look at the unluckier ones.

He had faith in Archie that he’d be able to bicycle all the way to the next rental place before the police came, but even so…
“Well, Archie, I don’t suppose I’ll be seeing you again,” Maxie remarked calmly as Archie fixed his chains, “Goodbye, thank-you for all the ‘good’ times, and...stuff like that…”
Archie turned around with his foot on the pedal and gave him a look he couldn’t quite make out. He kept that look on while Maxie rolled up the window back up - he gave up halfway through and started to cycle away. The gravel wasn’t letting him speed up, and he kept almost falling down.

This bike was...slower than he’d been promised.

What was that again about it being able to out...bike a car?
“Maxie,” Tabitha said, poking the driver as he turned the key and revved the engine, “Maxie, you might wanna look at this…”
The three passengers all leaned over the dashboard.
A small, nervous squeak came from the driver’s seat.

And the window rolled straight back down.

“What kind of prick returns a van with low fuel?” Tabitha snapped, gesturing wildly at the meter so close to ‘empty’ - “Are you - are you seeing this right?”

Archie...backpedalled a bit.

“That’s enough to take us approximately…” Courtney mumbled, counting on her fingers, “...uh, not very many distance, yeah...”

Shelly, on foot, tugged again and again on Archie’s arm, until she saw the little lightbulb form in his eyes - “Alright, what idea’d you get this time?”

“Never mind that!” Maxie blurted out, “We’re going - “
The van lurched forward out the driveway, crushing a recycling bin, engine coughing with a bang - and rolled to a stop in the middle, leaving the mangled plastic to blow away.
The driver’s foot was off the accelerator, and shaking too much to go back on.

“Do you...need something by any chance?” Archie asked, “I heard you guys talking about how you have no fuel left…”
Shelly and Matt, walked over to the small trailer full of fuel, pointing it out silently. About a hundred, piled in a mountain and held there with some line of rope. Kind of a fire hazard, but still, enough to last Archie and his gang for weeks without stopping at a gas station.

That is, it...would have.

“We thought this through and thought we’d bring some...backup,” he continued, raising an eyebrow at Maxie, “but since we got...out-bidded by you guys - “
“Yes! Yes, I know we did...” Maxie snapped, getting out of the van and marching up to the man giving him a condescending look, “What’s…” he continued, slowly starting to realise why they’d bothered, “...what’s the point you’re making here?”

“I know - I know we’re not meant to be messing with each other now - “ Archie clarified, “But I want to make a deal with you. We give you our fuel…”
“A...And?” Maxie interrupted, trying to make himself look taller.
“And you take us in the van.”

“What?” Maxie stated, chuckling a little.
“You can fit us in there - that thing has six or so seats, eight if you count the middle ones…”
“They don’t count.”
“We’d still be able to fit, then. So you take us in, you get to actually move -”
“And then we drop you at the nearest rental place,” Maxie clarified, “And then we drive off in seperate directions.”
“So it’s a yes?” Archie finished, tempting him with one fuel can.
“Wait, I haven’t decided yet!” the other man snapped, turning back to the van for a team talk, “I wouldn’t just go and...give you half of our van after a few seconds of thinking…”

Tabitha and Courtney leaned out the front window, glancing back and forth at the other admins - still showing off the pile of fuel, mind you - and not having anything to say.
“Do you think it’s some kind of trick?” Tabitha wondered aloud, “Maybe it’s diesel and they want us to blow up the...never mind…”
Before Courtney’s ears pricked up, and she tapped Maxie on the shoulder - “I don’t think - “ she whispered, waiting for the sounds of sirens in the distance becoming barely audible before shutting off again - “I don’t think we have more than...a few seconds…”

All six heard the chorus of feet in the building - Jeff and Mitchell had come out, waiting eagerly for the sirens to start again.

And a nearby screeching of tyres on tarmac.
“DON’T YOU MOVE!” Mitchell yelled from far off, “I SEE YOU GUYS OUT THERE!”

It took a few seconds for Maxie to shoot back against the van, trying to make himself as invisible as possible. Frantically, he fumbled to get the cap on the fuel tank open, taking a long five seconds before gesturing for Archie to put the fuel in.
“Alright!...Fine, but just to be clear, this isn’t going to be a long-term thing, you understand?”

He put his hand out, keeping it still.
...And watched as Archie calmly walked straight past him and put the fuel in the tank himself.
“Right! We’re good to go,” he exclaimed after he was done, throwing the empty can in a nearby bin, “Matt! Shelly! Hook up the trailer and get the dogs somewhere nice to sit!”

Swiftly, Matt shunted the trailer onto the back of the van, Shelly tossed their suitcases into the boot and Archie hung the bikes on the back - Maxie felt every bump and clatter as he sat, unmoving in the driver’s seat. He opened up the maps for reading material, but they weren’t any good. As maps or as distraction.
The doors all opened at once and Matt practically tossed himself into the back row seats, followed by Shelly with her backpack. Their Poochyenas -

Well, Maxie didn’t want to know where they ended up. He flicked the mirror where he couldn’t see it, trying to focus on not losing his cool -
Was that a tail on his elbow or just him imagining?
And finally, Archie pulled open the car door on the other side of the driver’s seat, tossing his small bag under the dashboard and fastening the seat belt - “Are you gonna be fine with me sitting here, or are you gonna get snarky once we start moving?” he asked, glancing at his friends in the back seat.
There was definitely a spot for him.
“Yes. I’m fine,” Maxie groaned, “Fine, fine.”

Turning the wheel and lightly pressing accelerate, he was surprised to find it actually worked this time - the car was silent, Archie hadn’t duped him or anything - and the van was pulling out onto the open road. What was the speed limit here? Fifty miles an hour? Eighty? One hundred?

“Well, it’s not like you...can go and pour the fuel out now, can you?” he mumbled under his breath, before hitting the gas and shooting onto his personal highway at the speed of an annoyed Zangoose, shoving everyone into their seats. Gravel scattered everywhere, and so did the birds.
“Wait - wh - SLOW DOWN!”
Dust trailed behind them, and there was a straight path ahead.
“Dude,” Shelly began, “We’re fine - “
“MAXIE, SERIOUSLY - “ Archie snapped, trying to nudge Maxie’s foot off the accelerator, but it wasn’t any use, “Is this you trying to get us out of here ASAP?!”
“You think so?”
“It’ll get you into the next life, that’s what it is!” he hissed, getting thrown against the other side of the car. As Maxie pushed up the speed again, the van shot around the corner and continued on.
“Did you forget we’re on the run for a second there?” he asked cheekily, “And you always talk about me not being... “ - he did a screeching turn onto another small road - “...adaptable.”

“Don’t worry, bro!” Matt offered, barely able to speak because of the car jumping on the gravel road, “If we crash, I’ll pull ya out of the wreck!”
“NOT THE TIME, BRO!”

The road signs ahead were all for one place: the Pelipper Ferry.
One hundred, hundred and fifty or so kilometres left, and then the first leg was over.
Nearly there, Maxie noted.
If we just go a little bit faster, then...

- - -

They were going to be safe.

One car drew up to the entrance of Rosen’s Rental Vans. The two brothers watched it nervously, expecting to tell yet another customer that they were all out.
But the person that stepped out wasn’t normal.
And the machine, the contraption on top looked familiar.

It was only when the owner of the vehicle flicked a small switch inside, and the whole parking lot started flashing red and blue, and red and blue, and red and blue again, that Jeff and Mitch realised they were going to be okay.

It was over. No team Magma and Aqua gang was going to come as revenge...or anything.

The policeman walked inside, unthreatening and calm. Making no sudden movements, he rang the bell at the desk and watched as the two owners came out from under their burrow of desk chairs and cardboard boxes.
“Are you Jeffrey and Mitchell Rosen?” he asked, knowing full well this question was pointless. His notepad was already out.
“Yes! Yes! We are - you’re here to ask us about Archie and Maxie, aren’t you?”
“We’ve got security footage, transactions, everything - “

“One question at a time,” the policeman ordered, escorting the brothers outside and to a police car, “I’m afraid you’ll have to answer them at the police station.”
“That’s fine!”
“Yeah, that’s - that’s okay!”
One of the officers cried out in laughter, rippling through the whole building, echoing through the night. Another ran out the door holding a USB stick with the security footage on it, still trying to keep a straight face after what he saw on the screens.
“Christ,” Mitchell remarked, “I hope they’re not laughing at our nice shelter.”

More and more police cars turned up at the scene, and they left as quickly as they came. Locals where showing up, the talk was spreading like wildfire -
Quicker than he’d expected -

“Well - you’re safe now,” the police officer confirmed as the brothers were shut in the car, and the door clicked closed, “Thank-you for cooperating with us.”

They heard nothing but muffled, discordant cheering.

- - -

Chapter Text

The clock in the Hoenn Tourist’s Centre had just struck eleven.

Most, if not all of the people in Hoenn had already watched the evening news and gone to bed a while ago. Bit by bit, town by town, the lights were going out, receding all the way east to Lilycove City.

(They say Lilycove City never sleeps, and hasn’t slept since the airplane was invented.)

The roads leading to it were dotted with tourists that weren’t able to get a better time to fly in, and employees that were...lucky...enough to just get the late -evening shift. The owners of the scattered cars all drove cautiously, alert.

All were mainly looking forward to getting back home. Back home, they’d be able to sleep, and even if they likely couldn’t, they would be safe. They all knew the dangers of falling asleep at the wheel. They’d all seen the advertisements, plastered on billboards spaced regularly along the motorway - “If you want to hit the pillow, don’t hit the road.”

Drive consciously, drive competently.
Stay safe.

It sounded like good advice.

...And then there was the huge black people-mover shooting down the highway at 150% of the speed limit.

“See? We’re absolutely fine.” the driver muttered. Quickly he swerved the van across 3 lanes, shakily settling on the second one. Pressed into the back of his seat, Maxie focused. And focused a little more, but the van wouldn’t stay straight. Someone honked - he didn’t care.
“Uh...buddy?” Tabitha began, “Won’t this use up the fuel faster?”
“Oh, of course it won’t - Archie! ”

“What?” came a muffled voice from outside the car. The howling wind brushed hair into Maxie’s face, which he tried to ignore.
“Don’t stick your head out of the window,” Maxie ordered, yanking Archie back into his seat - “...You look like a dog. A - A very conspicuous dog.”
Maxie wound the window down.
And Archie wound it back up.

“I’m keeping an eye out for people!” Archie explained, still keeping his eyes fixed on the road behind him - “People that are...probably chasin’ us…”
“Who?”
“The Rosens, the police…”
“Archie, there’s cameras on the side of the road here,” Maxie lectured, tightening his grip on the steering wheel, “I’ve looked at pictures they’ve taken of drivers, and they’d have a very nice view of your face.”

“What - speeding cameras? Well, we wouldn’t have to worry about those if - “
“And there’s also other drivers who’ve seen us every night on TV,” Maxie continued regardless as someone slower drove past them, giving the loud van a dirty look and then a surprised one, “Like that one - ”
“If we weren’t speeding!“ Archie growled.
“...Jeez,” he sighed as he continued, “Also, I’m...fairly sure no-one’s gonna recognise me,” he finished, trailing off when he saw Shelly mouth ‘what?’ He still leant out anyway, keeping his eyes on the rear-view mirror, and not on the now very done-with-everything driver.

“Nothing?...” Archie commented.
Nothing.

A few minutes passed with complete silence in the car, as tiny towns whizzed through the rear-view mirror. The admins in the back ducked below the window just for safety’s sake, and Tabitha tried to wrangle a large map. One sign flying close by Archie almost startled him, but he was too busy looking past, far past the road and fence now to care.

Maxie slowed down a little more after a large truck shot past.
Still, though, he said nothing.

If he could come back here again, Archie considered, he would have settled down in a seaside village on Hoenn’s northern coast. That’d be nice.
It’d be nice if it were like one of those isolated villages he’d seen on TV, where the outside world literally never got addressed, and all that happened was in a few-kilometre range of the main character. Funny how many of those there -

“Guys?” Tabitha called, tapping Maxie and Archie on the shoulder.
“What?”
“You missed the exit,” he explained, pointing a few hundred metres back. Maxie suddenly jerked upright - and the car came to a screeching halt on the highway’s side. They glided on the gravel like ice, as Archie buried his face in his hands.

“God damnit,” both of the front seat-ers snapped.

- - -

One-thirty in the morning.

They were one hour late.

No-one was awake.
No-one watched the van drive in. Most of the neon lights were out, the parties were off the streets, and the people? Gone. Almost every single shop in Lilycove, the city that clearly was sleeping, was shut for the night.
What looked like a black shadow crawled down the streets, turning down narrower and narrower streets like a rabbit down a hole.
A little off in the distance, a storeowner groaned.

“Do we know where -”
“I know where we’re going.”
“Right. Okay.”
“...Tabitha? Anything?”
“Hey, try that place over there.”
“Is it open?” Matt leant over Tabitha to get a closer look.
“Looks open.”
“It’d better be open, there’s a little 24/7 sign out front.”
“Don’t those places get really mad if you turn up at one-thirty?” Matt continued, remembering the 3-am ‘restaurant’ trips he’d take with Tabby occasionally.

As the car grated on the little gravel road, Tabitha kicked the door open and let Matt get out. They’d pulled up to a little store by the shore, in the cluster of tourism centres and other, more expensive and probably better rental chains. There weren’t even any lights to show the name of the place they’d chosen - but the twenty or so cars in the parking lot looked like a good sign.
It was late, it wasn’t perfect, but it would do.

“Well - “ Archie declared, stepping out of the van and hauling his backpack too, “Is this the place?”
“I hope so,” Maxie replied,  “If not, I doubt you’ll have to walk far to find another one.”
“...Yeah…’guess not,” said Archie, turning his back.
Quietly, he pushed the door open. The owners didn’t notice the new arrivals.

The two Poochyenas leapt out, eagerly following their owners inside. Tabitha, now alone in the back seat, felt a little betrayed.
“I suppose... “ Maxie began -

“Hm?”

“I suppose this is the last time we’re going to see each other,” Maxie explained, holding out a hand, “I assume you’re going to go somewhere different than I am?”
“I guess...I guess so -” Archie replied, before his hand got pulled in for a very stiff handshake in front of the still open door. (Less of a handshake, actually, and more of a hand...pull up and down once.) Matt took a quick look around, to see two women staring at their new customers.

“Bye, then? And, uh...thanks for the ride.”

“Yes,” Maxie finished, quickly - “...goodbye.” He let go of Archie’s hand, and backed off.
At first, he simply stood rigidly in front of the van. Then, as he realised Archie wasn’t going to get in until he drove off, he did...that.

The front door of the van slammed loudly behind him - before Maxie immediately hit the gas as soon as Archie took a step, and disappearing around a corner.

Archie stood silently for a few seconds, hovering there.

“See anything?...” Matt asked, quietly.

He craned down the street, but nothing appeared.

“Bro.”

Archie sighed, quite deeply.
“He’s...not coming back with our fuel, is he?”

- - -

A few minutes later, Archie was leaning on the desk of the new rental car center, handing over his credit card and driver’s license. It looked relatively new, which was good, he’d never seen the owner around these parts, same the other way around...The hoodie-and-sleep mask disguise still worked great, though this time he carried a pillow for effect. And yawned.

“And can I ask...what’s this place called, just so I can, um...return it at one of your other locations?” Archie inquired, keeping the attendant talking as they inspected his credit card.
“We...only have this one,” she replied, “Sorry.”
“Ah. Ok. Cool.”

“But, uh...you could return it at my brother’s chain,” she suggested, shoving a small flier in the pile of ones she’d already given to Archie, “We’re kind of working together - if you return something there, he’ll return it here, and, uh...vice versa...”

“Oh, really? What’s it called?” Archie asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

“Rosen’s Rental Vans.”

“Ohhhh.”
Archie’s mouth went dry.
Didn’t the lady in front of you look familiar now?
“Hm?”

“We just, uh...went there!” Shelly explained as Archie took a couple of steps backwards, “They ran out, so...lucky you, I guess?”

“Yeah,” the owner continued, checking her phone as she tapped one button a second on her computer. She reached for the keys, but just got her empty cup of coffee.
Her phone buzzed with a notification - [“bro! sent you a photo.”]

She clicked it. Looked up at Archie.
Back down at the portrait her phone again.
Up again.
Back down again, at the credit card, to check she wasn’t seeing things.
And back up with a look of recognition.

“Holy crap, ” she whispered under her breath, “It’s you. ”
“What is it, sis? Is it your ex again?”
“No - it’s...uh...”

- - -

A few minutes away, at the Cove Lily Motel, the other group of travellers was standing around calmly to the tune of lobby music. Courtney stole five mints out of the bowl on the counter, while Maxie retrieved his wallet.
“Courtney - that’s unprofessional. Put them back.”
Slowly, she returned two.

“I’ll have one room for one night,” Maxie requested to the lady sitting behind the counter, “Do you have a two-bedroom one?...”
“We do. Do you want the one with the balcony, or the one just across from it?”
“The balcony!” Courtney suggested, before Maxie gave his nod of approval.

- - -

The other Rosen sister shoved the Aquas out the door, slammed it, and immediately went to call the police.

- - -

Maxie gave the name they’d agreed upon. Same as last time, for all they knew he was Richard Grant again. Already, he was brainstorming new ones - but these would do. They would suspect something if he stuttered. Or told them he was John Doe.
“Right, you’ve got room number 214,” the attendant continued, handing him a key, “Have a nice night!”
“Thankyou. Thank-you very much - “ They were already hurrying upstairs, feet thumping on the floorboards, but Tabitha picked up something else.

Someone yelling about something down the road.
And it sounded kind of familiar.

- - -

“The motel!” Shelly suggested, but Archie was already running too far ahead. Not caring about how wide, how open the road was getting, he made a beeline for the nearest neon sign.

“I’m sorry - I’m such a dumbass, I should’ve given a fake name - “ he panted, “I’m sorry - “
“Archie, seriously - “

He waited and waited for the red-and-blue lights to show behind him.
It was only a matter of time.
Only a matter of time.

- - -

The room they had was right at the end of the corridor, but, then again, the hotel was tiny. Quietly so as not to wake up anyone else, Courtney opened up the door to their room. Clearly, they’d gotten them the best suite in the whole place. A massive balcony, a massive window, and the beds…

“Hey, Maxie, you might wanna check out the bed situation,” she told him, dumping her sleeping bag in the corner and resting her head.
“Oh dear…”
“What?” Tabitha asked, dragging the suitcases up the flight of stairs, hurrying as he heard a group of people stampede into the lobby.

“Well, this is the two bedroom one like I asked, but they didn’t even change the sheets, look,” Maxie complained, holding up a dusty red duvet, “Awful.”
“Ahh, never mind them,” Tabitha replied, chucking them all off his bed right onto Courtney’s face, and taking a leap onto the empty mattress. Courtney immediately kicked them all back -
“You dropped these.”
“Shoot, sorry - “
“It’s fine, it’s fine! ...Good night.”


- - -

“Name, please?”
“Elton - Elton Radclyffe,” Archie replied, getting out a wallet full of cash, “Here - we’re only staying a night anyway.” His hand trembled a little as the attendant counted the notes. They were looking down, and he was staring out the window.
“Ah - yes - here’s your key,” the attendant confirmed, “You’re in room 215 - “
“Thanks. Give me a wake-up call at 6.”

Strange, the attendant thought, he’d never seen anyone carrying their luggage on their backs.

Must be really excited to go to sleep.

As he watched them go upstairs, the desk in front of them...lit up.
Red and blue, red and blue - far away, but still very noticeable.

- - -

Maxie lay on the empty mattress, trying to shield his eyes from the light that came in through the balcony window. Every part of the room was lit up by a neon sign from a PokeMart across the road, which kept changing. Probably a ploy to make people pay attention.

“Is anyone asleep?” Maxie asked the room, sitting up in bed and snatching a notebook from his bag.
“I’m not,” replied Tabitha, muffled by the pillow he was lying on, “What is it?”
“How are we going to... get out of Hoenn?”

Maxie rifled through a collection of pamphlets he’d collected over the last day - ‘Delta Emerald Airlines’ - no good - ‘Pelipper Flights’, - also no good - ‘Kyogre Cargo’ - well, that one was going to have some trouble with business soon…

“Ahh! Seagallop Ferries!” Maxie announced quietly, “Perfect.”
“Okay. Yeah. Go on.”
“They do single trips from Lilycove City, to One Island, to Vermillion City. They let you take your car on board...” Maxie recited off the page, “...and they take six hours, cost around one thousand PokeDollars per passenger…”
“Six thousand PokeDollars? That’s...a bit much.”
“ Three thousand,” Maxie corrected.
“Oop. Sorry.”

- - -

The receptionist took another look at the new names in her book.
Elton Radclyffe?
...Wasn’t he from some movie?

- - -

Maxie gave a small nod and tucked the pamphlet back in his jacket pocket.
“There is the question, though…” Tabitha asked, moving over to Maxie’s bed and trying not to step on Courtney on the way, “...we still have to go through security, though, right? It’s not any different to taking a plane.”

“Yes, yes, I took that into consideration -” Maxie sighed, “I do know, though...that it is quite a bit easier to smuggle something onto a boat than a plane.”
“Ohhh.”
“Yes.”
“Are we...actually doing this?”

“Yes - we are. It’ll be more interesting than driving, at least...” Maxie concluded, turning around and flopping onto the bed the exact same way Tabitha did - “Goodnight.”
“G’night.”

- - -

Archie held the Seagallop Ferries pamphlet in his hand, reading over the text again and again, trying to get bored, tired enough to sleep.
There was no point trying the planes, people had already called the police to their name. And passports existed. Ferries were a lot less regulated, and there was always the open sea - a Sharpedo they could try.

He looked over at his friends, who might’ve been sleeping, might’ve been lying awake like he was - would they have approved?
Would they like the plan?
Wouldn’t it be a lot better for them if he asked?

- - -

This pillow-in-the-face technique was working well, thought Maxie, lying there in the dark now. Some faint bright lights danced at the edge of his sight, but if he tried, actually tried , he could ignore them.
And then they got brighter.
And more colourful.

As Maxie shot up in bed like waking up from a bad dream, he looked out the luxurious, all-revealing balcony window - to see a police car pulling up to the hotel. The shadows of the men inside looked...huge. The tiny bell on the door rang -
Before one of them shut it up with their hand.
The officer inside turned off the lights, signalled for their partner to keep a watch outside...and stepped in.

“COURTNEY! Quick - close the curtains! ”

Thump - he landed down the side of the bed, tucking himself into the space between it and the wall. He watched as his admin struggled upwards, in full view of the window, looking left, right, left again -

“There aren’t any curtains!” she announced, looking to him for reassurance.

“ WHAT? ”
Then silence, as he slammed a hand over his mouth.

“Hide, then!”
“Where?”
Tabitha, staring out the window and frozen in place, found the nerve to slide behind the bed, pulling a duvet over his back.
“ANYWHERE!”
“Right!” Courtney whispered, curling into a ball behind a table. She felt the vibration, a slam of a door through the weak, thin floor. Faintly, she trembled.

Seemingly to intimidate them, the siren lights never turned off.

- - -

“Is there a man staying here, going by the name ‘Cam Sanders?’” the policeman asked the slightly shaken attendant, who had his nose buried in the registration book - “We have reason to believe they’re actually Archie Smith, and if so - “
“N...No, Officer, we don’t - officer!”

“Ah,” they confirmed, returning to their car -
“Jimmy...what’s the name of the other guy?”
“Who? ‘Bartholomew?’”

“No, no... the nerdy ones.”

- - -

“We need to get out of this room - “ Maxie concluded, “Tabitha, where’s the bathroom here? They won’t come into a bathroom! It’s unprofessional!”
“ They’ll know to look there, though! ” Tabitha objected, grabbing Courtney and half their luggage, “We’ll have to jump out a window or something!”
“No - no, it’ll work!” Maxie replied, fumbling with the door handle, “It’ll buy us time! That’s all we need! Time!”

- - -

Archie woke up again to the sound of footsteps in the lobby below - “Guys - guys, wake up!”
“What?” Shelly asked, grabbing her bag immediately.
“The police are here!”
“ Don’t say that so loud! ”
“Bro - “ Matt interrupted, grabbing Archie’s shoulder as he turned to leave - “We’re fine. You signed us in with a fake name. They’re going to find no-one. Remember?”
Archie took a few shaky breaths in, trying to recall if he actually did that. Quietly, they all returned to normal, as normal as they could be if someone came in.

“It’s okay. You’re - “

A chorus of voices crashed out of the other side of the corridor. Archie whipped around, pushing his door open to see...

“Maxie?”

His rival, the person he’d just said goodbye to, was frozen in position. Halfway through the action of pulling a suitcase out of his room, he barely reacted.
Tabitha gave a quick look to his leader, but there was no response.
They nervously looked at each other, muttering quietly about why they’d come back -
Until a sliver of light projected up the hall.

- - -

“I’d also like to ask you - “ the officer began after coming back in - “did a man named Richard L. Grant and his wife check in?”
“Richard L...Grant?” the attendant confirmed.

- - -

“Erm…” Maxie began, “I apologise - but - ”

- - -

“Yes. Yes, he did, actually,” they continued, “He’s in room 214.”
The police officers gave each other a nod and continued upstairs. One even carried a battering ram the size of a large chair.
“May I ask who he actually is?” the attendant inquired, from below the desk.
“He’s the leader of team Magma, if you must know. Don’t panic.”
The attendant, fainted, hit the floor with a little whump.

“Alrighty, then.”

- - -

“Just get in,” Archie told him, pulling Maxie into his hotel room by the arm. Courtney followed, pulled in by Matt who practically tossed her across the room.
One far-off, very loud smash of glass later, and Tabitha ran inside. He slammed the door behind him and locked it with a click, double, triple checking to make sure. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, all three slumped onto the nearest piece of furniture just as the first footsteps started moving down the corridor.

“You - “ Maxie began, but everyone in the room gave him the finger on lips.
“It’s fine,” Archie whispered.

- - -

The police entered room 215, to find...a scene straight out of a crime show. The sheets were torn off the beds for some reason, and there was some luggage left under the table. Upon closer inspection, they contained nothing important - just snacks, clothes and a plush Skitty.

Of course, none of that caught their attention first.

- - -

“Hey...quick question,” Shelly muttered, shifting around to face Tabitha, “Why’d you break a window before you dived in here?”

- - -

“Well, I think we all know what happened here,” the first officer concluded, pointing at the huge, shattered pane of glass. Some of the shards, tiny ones were kicked around haphazardly...but the footsteps stopped at the balcony. As he craned over the edge, he could see the road below - obviously no evidence of a fall, but it was asphalt anyway.

Jumping from this height wouldn’t kill you, especially if you hung from the balcony before doing it. It was only the second floor. It’d be uncomfortable...but you would still be able to walk afterwards.
The officer smiled happily. Genius, he thought, genius.
“Hey, Greg, I worked it out!”
“What?”

He gracefully leaned off the balcony, pointing down the empty street.
“...They’ve jumped out the bloody window!”

- - -

“That’s why,” Tabitha concluded, pressing his ear to the door and smiling confidently.
Quickly, he drew back as the thud of boots crept... back down the hallway. Down the stairs...the little bell that rang when you left, went off with a gentle ding-ding-ding.

And...that was the sound of a car driving away.

“...I did it!” Tabitha squeaked.

It started quietly, but as the police car’s sirens got softer and softer, the cheering got a little louder. Everyone congratulated everyone - well, apart from Tabitha. He was happy just soaking up the attention. Matt gave Archie a reassuring pat on the back, telling him that it was done. They were gone. Police didn’t visit a place twice.

Maxie, however, was still trying to get his heart-rate back down.
“Well, Tabitha,” he muttered, “Congratulations on your quick thinking there - if Team Magma still existed, I would give you a medal.”
“You...gave out medals?”
“Yes, he did,” Courtney replied, opening up her jacket to show the rows of laminated paper with ribbons taped on the back.

Everyone retreated to the couches at the back of the hotel room, no longer needing to get out as soon as possible. Maxie, as soon as he sat down, felt a hand on his shoulder -
“So, uh…” Archie mused, “What do you wanna do now? Stay here?...Go back?”
“Stay here - obviously, since - since our room’s useless now anyways...” Maxie replied, “I can’t stand a room with a draft.”

Archie thought something over for a second or so - “That was...karma, by the way,” he finally replied, scratching the back of his neck and looking away.
“Actually, I mean more...uh, what kind of prick would leave someone outside a hotel room to get taken by the police?...” he continued, “That’s what I meant.”
“Ahh,” Maxie concluded, “I see.”
“I would’ve done it for any…” Archie began, before realising what he was saying and bursting into awkward, stilted laughter, “...never mind, actually.”

Matt marched past them both, just as Maxie was moving to get up.
“Right!” he said, throwing a handful of duvets onto the floor - which was a lot, considering how much he could carry, “Does everyone wanna turn in for the night?”
“Sure.”
“Alright!”
“I called dibs on the bed,” Archie declared, shuffling onto the small single mattress and curling himself around whatever pillows he could find, “What about everyone else?”
“I...I’ll take a position on the - “
“DIBS ON THE BED!” Tabitha cried, throwing himself onto the other.
“...on the floor. Near the door,” Maxie finished, making himself a nest.

If he concentrated, he could faintly hear the hotel employees talking about what just happened. Complaining, working out how much this would cost, probably. In fact, he found it almost impossible to ignore them, and even if he did, every now and then someone would walk back up to the room to inspect the damage.
It took Maxie a while to realise why he was so weirdly nostalgic, before realising this was the exact same feeling he’d get staying up late as a small child.
How immature, he thought, just go to sleep. Do something to go to sleep.

Quietly, he got out one of the Pokeballs from his bag and pressed the little button on the front. With a small flash of light, his Crobat got out and stretched its wings, and quickly found the edge of the table a good place to hang.
Maxie took a small mint he’d taken from the hotel’s reception desk, and fed it to the bat, waiting until it started eating to explain the plan.

“If you hear anyone come down the hall, you immediately wake me up. Then, you use Swift on them, and you wait until I run. You understand?” He went to switch a nearby lamp off, as everyone else was turning off their phones and lights.
“Skitters - what do you do…” Maxie questioned, knocking lightly on the rug with his hand, “If you hear thi - “

The bat screeched so loudly it almost cracked the glass table. He then got slapped in the face with a huge wing.

“Y...Yes. Very good.”
Maxie turned over, looking up to see Archie watching the little bat. Strangely, his hand also held a Pokeball, and his thumb was also on the button, but after seeing the little display, he put it safely back in his pocket. Maxie couldn’t quite make out the expression on his face, and he turned over to sleep a few seconds later.

“And wake me up at six,” Maxie asked his Crobat in a low whisper, “Or when you hear a very loud horn.”
“Don’t bother,” Archie replied, “I already asked the hotel to do it.”

“You’re…” Maxie asked, sitting up, “...taking the ferry as well, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” Archie replied, “First one tomorrow. ...G’night.”

Maxie turned back around, facing the wall, and tried to think of other things.
Stupid, stupid - would Archie have swum all the way to Kanto, is that what he thought? Did he really think the two wouldn’t have to bump into each other again? How am I going to spend a whole day on that boat with hi - (no. Wait. The boat is the size of a small building.)
How exactly is he going to get on the ship? How am I supposed to get...
...No, never mind that.
Tomorrow, Maxie thought, he would leave Hoenn, give Archie another, slightly more poetic goodbye, and finally give Tabitha his ‘medal’. That would fix absolutely, posilutely everything, he mused with a small smile.

- - -

At 4 o’clock in the morning, a single cleaner was sent in to clean up the mess left behind by the wanted criminals that jumped out the window and ran away. The largest pane of glass they’d ever bought, completely ruined.

No, she didn’t believe it either.

Completely ignoring the drifts of broken glass, she knelt down to dust some crumbs off the floor under the bed. She got out her dustbin and brush and -
A sharp pain shot through her knee.
Inspecting it, she realised she’d knelt on top of a shard of glass - slumping down with a thud, she saw a few more in an impossible place - under the bed. So close to the door, and so close together.

Impossible, unless…
Someone kicked them down there on their way out. As she gazed around, swearing quietly she saw more and more things that looked off - the bags all collected around the door, the little damp marks around the window and trailing back to the door, invisible unless you touched them...

“Hey, Marty?” she called down the hall, “I think you might wanna take a look at this.”

- - -

At around 5 o'clock in the morning, the silhouette of a massive ferry crossed the horizon off Lilycove City’s coast. As it arrived, it blared the horn, shaking the trees and seagrass on the shore. The citizens were used to it, and none of them woke up.

Neither did the Crobat, still asleep under the desk.

The small crowd of people slumped over sofas and beds and the floor slept on, as the sun rose outside. But the room was windowless. The sun didn’t come in.

The early birds of Lilycove, the city that sort of slept, wandered the streets as tourists filled them, and families met each other again on the shore. The newcomers and the returning people were confused by the police car stationed on the dock, but none of them were worried.

After all, as was said a lot nowadays, if you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear.

But, despite all the news reports, and the frequent reassurance that they didn’t have anything to fear if they didn’t have anything to hide. ..two young adults in a nearby flat decided to stay out of the city’s way that day.

“It’s a holiday, anyway,” the first one said, hanging up his bandana and reclining in his chair, “You reckon we might take a day trip somewhere again? I think we should go for that villa in the Battle Resort again.”
“...I feel like going somewhere hot,” the second one suggested, changing out of their turtleneck.
“You always feel like going somewhere hot...and firey...and dangerous…”
“Oh, stop it! I’m over that!” One punched the other playfully on the shoulder.
“You always say that, and then you tried to make s’mores with your Camerupt - “

And then, both of their phones buzzed, with a very signature text-tone.

Fittingly, it was the sound of a warning tone, designed to catch their attention, and catch it fast. It was the one they’d reserved for their bosses - well...previous bosses. Both of them had sworn to delete them off their contacts list, but, of course, neither of them had.

“Uh…”
“Never mind, then?”
“You haven’t even read the message yet!”

They looked, one in disbelief and one in quiet revere, at who just contacted them at five in the morning.

Archie has sent a message. - Maximillian has sent a message.

Chapter Text

It took...quite a while for the cleaner to convince the owner of the hotel to call the police back.
You’re basing your decisions on a single piece of glass, they said. What are you, Sherlock Holmes?...they said - we don’t want this trouble, they said.

We are one suspicious police officer away from this place becoming a crime scene, and us losing our business for weeks, rather than just losing one room - they said.

But here they were. Answering a call from a man of the law.
It took one instance of the owner joking that the ringleaders of Team Magma might not have jumped out the window that night for the man on the other end to latch on.

Arceus almighty, they said, does this mean they’ve been following the routes out of Lilycove City for the whole night? You’d better give us evidence for that, they said. They’ve got police cars here, anyway, they said…

“Evidence?” the hotel owner said, “Well...I can give you one thing.”

- - -

On the other side of town, a black van pulled up...sort of nearby a house on the seashore. Far away enough to be anonymous. Close enough so that their feet wouldn’t hurt.
The people inside peered out of the window as Maxie parallel parked (perilously) beside their white RV, watching in...almost fear as these conspicuous people tried to walk to the door as casually as they could.

An awkward duet of knocks made one of them rush over -
“Ah! Hello!” the woman in the hoodie said, followed by the slightly more hesitant man in the bandana.
“Greetings,” Maxie replied.
“Hey, Mark!” Archie told him, cheerily.
Molly gulped, and Mark took a step back, still smiling.

Maxie and Archie always sounded like this before they proposed...something.

Of course, that changed nothing. Best not look curious. Or suspicious.
Or disapproving.

The group that had just walked in were their bosses, after all.

- - -

“I can give you…” the owner of the hotel said, “their license plate.”

“...Go on.”

- - -

The pair showed the travellers around their little house, eventually settling in the living room. Molly rushed to pull open the curtains, basking in the sunlight for a second or two before crashing in her small rocking chair.

Maxie tossed a small leaflet onto the coffee table. Seagallop Ferry Service, it read, and one departure time was circled. Immediately, Mark swiped it off and read it, thoroughly, giving side-glances to Molly at every step - who looked more confused than suspicious.
“So…” Mark asked the two men sitting in front of him, “Um...what did you want us to do?”
“Basically,” Archie replied, leaning forward - “We want ‘cha to take us with you on your day trip to Kanto.”
“Wh - How did you know we were going?”
Archie picked up his PokeNav and waved it around a little - “You friended me. On ‘ere. You posted about it, I thought - hey, here’s an opportunity, and - “
Maxie nodded approvingly - “Yes, I found out the exact same way,” he declared, ignoring the very suspicious look from Molly.
“...We’re able to pay our fare,” Tabitha confirmed, “We’ve got the money.”
“Yeah, that’s the one thing we don’t have a problem with,” Shelly butted in -
“Shelly!”

“Ahh, so... “ Mark began, scratching the back of his neck, “What you’re saying is…”
“You want us to smuggle you on board?” Molly finished, “Right?”

Shelly, far in the back, sighed quietly. The leaders...just blinked and Archie laughed nervously.
“I’d say ‘smuggling’ is a bit of a strong word,” Maxie finally said, “It’s not like we’re taking any illegal substances with us, we’re just getting on board without paying.”
“Are you sure about that?” said a voice from the back.
“COURTNEY!”
“...Kidding.”

“So do you think it’s possible?” Archie stood up and led the group over to the window, showing them the RV that was parked outside, not exactly gleaming in the sunlight - but it could probably house a small family.
Cautiously, Mark got Archie and Maxie’s attention.

“Do we...get anything in return?”

“Obviously,” Maxie replied, “You get…”
“One of these babies,” Tabitha declared, sliding on the scene.
Maxie held up his PokeNav and a handful of cash - his admin held up a “well done” sticker.
“Deleted from every database in Team Magma’s possession - as soon as I leave Hoenn’s radar and arrive in a Kantonian internet cafe. The evidence of...both of your crimes will be gone, and no-one will notice.”
“Mm. And same for you...Mark,” Archie continued, as Molly ducked past him to snatch the sticker off of Tabitha. Mark...almost nodded. As though he wasn’t making all the effort.

...already, Matt had his backpack back on.

“And - If anyone finds us, I’ll bite the bullet and say we snuck on board and you didn’t know,” Archie offered, placing a hand on Mark’s shoulder, and, though he didn’t notice it himself, giving him the puppy dog eyes.
“...Really?” Mark asked, with a little awe. Archie smiled, sincerely.
“Really.”

- - -

“Good. Good, we’ll start a search for that car,” the policeman replied - before immediately ending the call.

- - -

“I’ll do it.”
Archie gasped a little, startling Molly who immediately went still as a statue.
“I’ll do it too!”

“Great!...Great...” Archie replied, giving Mark the old fistbump and leading him out the door onto the driveway while Maxie tried a firm, assertive handshake. Immediately, the six visitors broke off and rushed to get everything out of their car - only Tabitha stayed back a little, and only to return the tea he didn’t drink.

Mark was a little surprised, when Molly walked over for a quick peck on the cheek.
“You sure about this?”

“...Are you?” Mark whispered, once he was sure everyone had left.

- - -

Molly ran up to the huge RV once she was done talking, unlocking it with a click before sitting back and waiting, waiting while everyone piled in.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before…”
“Hey, I remember renting one of these?”
“Hold on!” Tabitha offered, rushing to the barely-open door and pulling it.
And...kept on pulling it.
Tabitha might have gotten the idea that he wasn’t helping, when he started hanging off the door by the high-up handle.
With a mechanical whirr, the door kept dragging him across, a few inches a second.
Of course, Matt, being the brave, taller soul he was, leapt to help him too.
“Uh, I think -...”
He caught ahold of the door and started pulling, amazed at the slow but steady progress he was making as he dragged his feet across the gravel. Everyone else walked in, not giving him a second look.
Matt shook the door a little, but no.
Tabitha was not going to let go.

“Guys, I think that one opens by itself,” Shelly commented, peering around the doorway and dragging Tabitha inside by his hood.

The whole vehicle was huge, bigger on the inside you might say - filled with nooks and crannies. Cautiously, Archie took a look at the well-furnished driver’s seat and touched the wheel, even though he knew he wouldn’t be driving one of these things, unless he got very lucky.
“Well, er...I see you’ve been doing pretty well for yourselves,” he commented, “...Good for you?”
“Yeah,” Mark explained, “I’ve decided to get into Pokemon breeding, she decided to get into art and selling T-Shirts...it worked out pretty well.”
Molly, who was in the middle of sitting down, gave Mark a knowing look.
“Oh, and...me and Molly got back together again,” he continued, quietly, sheepishly, waiting. He prepared himself to end this discussion, if it turned sour. Again.

“...Cool.”

Maxie, hearing the conversation, froze up.

Did things like that happen?

“We, uh...had a plan already to go to Kanto,” Molly was explaining to Tabitha, casually, “We go there for weekend trips sometimes!”
“Mmhm.”
“You gotta get away from Hoenn sometimes,” she continued, “Y’know?”
“Yeah!” Tabitha replied, chucking quietly, “I know all about that…”

(Maxie quietly unscrewed the parts of the vent above the dining room, checking to see if it was possible for him to squeeze in there. Was it? Would people notice if he did something like take apart a vent for seemingly no reason - )

“It’s probably a lot better than me just...running off and...y’know - “

Running off and doing what?

“Running off and going through my rebellious teenage phase all over again. I mean, look at my fashion sense now,” Molly commented, playing with the little yarn balls knitted to her hoodie, “I’d probably look, like...so dumb without someone to check in with.”

What happened next sounded like Tabitha apologising. Maxie wasn’t entirely sure, but what he did notice was Archie, looking at the pair as well. Mark gulped. Did he see Maxie staring?

“Yeah...getting back together was easier than I - “

And at that, Maxie walked away.

“Right!” He clapped his hands together, getting up on the highest place in the whole van - the coffee table.
“Dude, you’ve still got your shoes on - “
“Everyone, find a location in this RV to hide!”
“What - like underneath it?”
“No! We have to get more creative than that…” Maxie declared, walking over to the kitchen and nudging a drawer open, “...and we might run through a puddle, Archie.”
“You can do anything, except break things!” Molly asserted, placing herself in front of the bowls cabinet.
“Ahh.”
“And...unscrew, like...more than 4 screws.”
“Understood.”
“I can never get those things back on.”
“Great!” Archie boomed, pulling down a ladder from nowhere, “Let’s get this show on the road!”

- - -

About twenty minutes later, Mark hit the gas. The lean, green, road trip machine slowly pulled out of the driveway, and headed to the shore. Safe to say, the early birds had got the worm, and they were one of the first people on board.
Good, since these guys had taken so long to hide.

Tabitha - well, Tabitha had decided to curl into a ball under the sink. The drivers had heard a few...er, drinking noises coming from underneath, though Tabitha had reassured him he’d brought water in case they got held up.
Not like they were getting in anyway - Mark had locked the sink shut.

Matt had snuck into the space underneath a window-seat - he had to point his arms straight up and lie exactly horizontally to pull it off, but there was still a small bit of him pushing the lid up. Luckily, Molly had finally found a use for the many, many, many blankets she’d knitted during that period of boredom after joining Team Magma...now to hope no-one sat there.

Shelly found a small space under the floor - (wow, this thing felt like it was designed for disaster aid - supplies included, not taking road trips…) For the first time in years, she found an excuse to actually put her homemade goggles on. At least they kept the dust out.

Courtney was one of the last people to find a hiding space, and was left with the riskiest of all - hiding under the blankets of the bed. Luckily, said bed was two metres off the ground and the ladder was safely stowed away.
Molly was a nice person, they’d let her sleep here.

And Archie and Maxie...well, they’d both taken one side of a cupboard. There weren’t too many clothes, the place was even dusted...the only problem was that they weren’t two seperate cupboards. (Ahh, the looks on their faces when they saw each other.)
“Do you think they’ll bother to check?” Maxie asked quietly, burying himself in towels.
“No?” Archie replied, waiting for him to pop out again. (He never did.)

“We’re coming up to the ticket place now…” Mark observed, still going the same speed -
“So everyone stay really quiet, ‘kay!” Molly continued, rustling around in her bag.

“Tickets, please! - “
“Yep, we’ll have two adults…”

Then the van stopped.
...And Courtney remembered, too little too late - that inertia existed.
“Here they are - “
Bang - she hit the floor with a thump so loud it shook the windows. The duvets landed a second later, covering the whole dining area.
She didn’t say anything.
Perfect.

“...Oh, what was that?” the attendant said, stepping across the tarmac, “...Can I quickly check? A lot of customers don’t secure their baggage properly, and -
“Wait!”
Too late. The stubble-bearded man in charge had already stuck his head through the window.
“Oh, who’s that?...” he asked, motioning towards the lady on the floor.
“She’s…” Mark mumbled, “...our daughter.” Sheepishly, he handed fifty extra Pokedollars to the attendant. No reaction.
“So, I see all your luggage is out here,” he continued, walking in and passing straight by the very dizzy and bewildered Courtney, “Ahh, good, you strapped it to the table. That’ll keep it in place.”
“Yeah...yeah, we did!”

“And there’s nothing under the window-seat?”
“No, there isn’t - “ Courtney replied, sitting down on the seat and -
“OW!” screeched a small voice.

The attendant whipped straight around, fairly sure he’d heard a very masculine voice coming out of this small kid. Although he tried not to stare - he did.

“Sometimes my voice breaks,” Courtney explained, “I...sat on a pin.” She went to get a glass of water, only for nothing to come out of the tap. Nonetheless, she still held the glass in place, waiting for the strange man in her van to leave.
“It’s alright, dear,” Molly replied as the attendant got out and left, “No need to be ashamed.”
“Thankyou, sorry for the delay!” the man continued, getting back into his booth and raising the gate.
“That - was genius - “ the small voice said very loudly -
“Shush.” Immediately, Courtney sat back down.
“OW!”

Cautiously, Mark hit the accelerator and edged the RV into the bowels of the ship. The vehicle, the landscape inside too, went dark apart from a few fluorescent lights. The very confused attendant...quickly receded from view.

“Thankyou,” Courtney finished, “I agree.”

- - -

After much deliberation, Mark finally found a decent parking spot that wasn’t in between two trucks. Switching on the lights once and only once he was parked - despite Molly telling him it wasn’t really illegal to do that, he turned around…

“Alright, you can come out now!”

The floor popped open to reveal Shelly’s head. The wardrobe practically flew open as Archie and Maxie escaped. Matt slowly crawled out of the windowseat to shake Courtney’s hand and repeat what he’d said before - ignoring Tabitha, who was still knocking on the door of the sink.

Maxie’s heart still felt like it would leap out of his throat.
“So!” Molly said, picking up her bags, “What now?...”
“We’re just gonna…” Mark continued, motioning to the decks above, “...hang out up there.”

“Well, I - we - decided to leave,” Maxie told him, “We’ll only take up space here. Both of you will see your stuff deleted in around one or two…”
He stopped, once he saw Mark staring at...something. That something was half a floor panel, all the way off in the corner. Shelly was positioning herself in front of it, awkwardly, staring at the gap where it was supposed to be.

“Can you put it back?”

Mark motioned towards the problem.
“Dude,” Molly muttered, before Shelly quickly grabbed the piece and slotted it back into place. Meanwhile, everyone untied their bags, thanking the two grunts one by one and slipping out the door. Matt stayed to do the signature handshake, and...also because he’d brought too much luggage with him.

Shelly quietly tried to say ‘sorry’, but only came out too quiet.

In the metal underbelly of the ship, the two grunts watched as their former bosses struggled to keep a straight course, as the ferry swayed and rocked itself to sleep in the water.

“Well…”
“What?”

Mark hit the brakes, and rolled down the window-blinds - all apart from the one at the front. Sighing deeply, he leant against the steering wheel.

“Didn’t that work out well?” he asked Molly, “...Hm?”
“We’ll see,” Molly sighed, “Don’t count your chickens, and...all that.”

The ship gave a sudden lurch, and they both giggled when Archie and Maxie almost fell on top of each other.
“I reckon he’ll do it,” she continued, leaning her head on Mark’s shoulder.
“Do what? Fall over completely or delete your thing?”
“Both,” Molly finished, watching Maxie try and inconspicuously use Tabitha as a crutch, “I think they’ve softened up a li...oh, hey, one of them’s…”
Matt had turned around to see their silhouettes laid against each other, lit from behind by the lights inside. It was...quite clear what was going on.

“One of them’s pointing at us.”

Quietly, they watched as the six travellers walked off, somehow more talkative than before, motioning towards the place they’d just left.
All of them were talking at once, joyfully...well, apart from Archie and Maxie.
They were silent, and making an effort to walk ahead of their admins.

“Probably talking about how we’re both obvious lovebirds,” Mark chuckled, giving Molly a quick kiss on the cheek when everyone turned around.
“Aww - Mark...you’re right, we really have been…”
The door that led into the main ferry closed with a clang.

“You know what this means, right?” Molly gasped, collapsing onto Mark as she couldn’t stop laughing - “It means they’re okay with it! They didn’t say anything! None of this ‘team loyalty’ crap or - or anything!”

“Well...” Mark said in a low, reassuring voice, “...even if they weren’t, I reckon we could still pull this off. I mean, they’re leaving Hoenn forever, right?”
“Well,” Molly said with conviction, “...it’s still really nice that they are.”

- - -

Meanwhile, in a dingy office in Lilycove, one low-ranking police-officer had been set to work on the reports of a black van. At first, they weren’t interested - just another case of someone stealing a rental car.
And then they told him Archie and Maxie, Hoenn’s most wanted were the potential thieves.

...He still wasn’t interested.

However, here he was, looking up the address of the location the car was found at. It was nearby a dairy, maybe they wanted to get some milk…
And it was also nearby the ferry port.
“Uh - Patrick?” he asked his co-worker, “There’s something you should - “
“Not now.”
He checked the latest departure time.
This latest ferry left by 6:00.
...It was now 5:51.

- - -

They’d been going up these spiral staircases for minutes now, and the clattering of their feet echoed for hundreds of metres upwards. Archie and Maxie led the way, pulling the luggage up, up, upwards, sometimes tossing it for a couple of steps…
“I think we should all just - “ Tabitha suggested, “Get backpacks.”
“Not the time, Tabitha!”

- - -

“Seriously, we have less than twenty minutes if we want to get to them!”
“We’ve got police boats, right?”

- - -

“Well - I don’t think we wanna go through the main lobby…” Archie shuddered, opening a door to find hundreds of people standing around in an impatient crowd. Quickly, he turned his head before anyone saw his signature scar and the beard, and ducking behind the door frame.
“We gotta go through somewhere where everyone’s more...I don’t know, distracted - “
“The kitchen,” Maxie said, pulling everyone aside, “Courtney? Any directions?”
“The kitchen?!”
“Down there, to the left!” Courtney replied, pulling them all back down.

- - -

“Dude, we can’t board a boat on international waters, and that ship...moves really fast! They don’t call it the Seagallop for no reason, Pat!”
“Fine, fine, I’ll get the boss…”

- - -

Archie opened the metal door slower this time, finding a scene of cooks and waiters buzzing around a network of ovens and tables.
And a coat-rack full of chef’s gear.
“Genius,” Tabitha said, quickly sneaking outward to grab six coats at once, “Here. One for each of you.”
“I’ve been on one of these ferries before,” Shelly remembered, “They serve really nice food on the top deck, so that must mean...there’s a way from here, to there.”
“Yes, very good job…”
Luckily, the coats all fit - and by that, I mean they didn’t fall off. Shelly led the way once everyone was ready, passing through the crowd of people who actually worked there.
Secretly, she was thinking she might keep this.

Maxie, a head above the crowd, tried to look for an exit and act like he was going to be here forever at the same time. Confidence - confidence was key.
In front of him, Courtney grabbed his hand to make sure she wouldn’t get lost, unaware that Maxie had no idea where he was going either. In fact, he only realised he was too far to the left when his arm started burning. He was bumped left, right - left again - ...
“Hey!”
Maxie kept walking, and said nothing.

The conga line of fake cooks reached the atrium of the kitchen - surrounded by open flames and smells of...something edible -
“Hey,” Archie called, “Anyone know the way up to the deck?”
Someone just shoved past him with a plate full of drinks.
“Anyone?”

That same someone came back with three plates, shoving all of them into his arms - a Filet Mignon, a baked Magikarp, and...a glass of Coke, meant for tables 98, whatever, whatever...
“Dude, you’re a chef, not a waiter,” Matt reminded him.
“It’s fine,” Archie replied, trying to get the plates in position on his arms, “It’s all good, I should be able to balance these juuuust fine, don’t worry about me - “
And then someone tapped him on the shoulder.
“Just go up to your left, and you’ll find the stairs,” the cook said, placing another plate in his hand, yet another ceasar salad…

“Archie! Over here,” Maxie called out from far away, “Or we’ll lose you!” Jumping up and down, he waved his hand around when he was above the sea of chef’s hats.
“We’re over here - the stairs up are to your left?” Archie replied, almost waving back but realising that was a very bad idea.
“Where are you right now?...”
“Doesn’t matter, just go up the stairs!” Archie tried bellowing over the crowd, not realising Shelly and Matt were already jumping up and down behind him.
He noticed once the glass of coke started moving in time with the loud clangs.

“Matt, maybe just wave…” he suggested, moving onwards.

- - -

“Why did no-one tell me they were gonna be on the ferry?”
“I TRIED!”

Immediately, the chief of police sent our plucky police officer out of the room and hastily tried to call whoever needed to be called -
“This is the chief of police. Send out...three police cars immediately, for the Lilycove Ferry Port! And ready your police boats!”
“Ahh…” the person on the other end of the line said, “Is...this a prank call? You can order a pizza if you want.”
“DAMNIT! - “ the chief of police swore, cutting the call and redialling again.

- - -

The clanging stopped, as Archie set a course for the stairs. Surprisingly, the plates were balancing rather well - perhaps I could take this up full-time, he thought.

A quiet creaking echoed from below.

If he couldn’t get any kind of better job, then -
The entire ship lurched.

“This is your captain speaking,” said the loudspeakers, as Archie was thrown to the floor.
“We are now leaving Hoenn, so please take a seat…” they continued, as four china plates smashed across the ground, throwing meals and drinks everywhere.
“Our forecast is telling us…”
He shot back up, leaning against an oven as a hundred heads turned to face him.
“...that there may be some stormy waters…”
Waving his hands a little and nervously grinning, he tried to say sorry, but…

“...so you should try and stay in a secure place.”

He couldn’t. Grabbing the hands of his two admins, he shoved through the crowd, skating on the pieces of plate and spilled Coca-Cola. Immediately, Maxie groaned with frustration and picked up two spatulas, clashing them together like cymbals - and watched as a familiar figure started dashing toward the noise.
Archie finally reached him a second or two later - and grabbed his coat. He quickly looked behind him, seeing the path of horrified people, before starting to run - Maxie was whipped off his feet, dragging his admins with him. With a shove, everyone fell into the stairwell, and Shelly locked the door behind them.

All breathed a sigh of relief.

- - -

The police car pulled up to the small, hidden harbor. Inside was a state-of-the-art police boat, stocked with officers ready to board the Seagallop.
“Go,” said the chief of police.

- - -

The six of them broke out onto the deck, and rushed to the side of the ship, immediately. People turned their heads, but they only caught a glimpse of them - only the sea could see them now, but they saw something else.

Something was tailing the boat.

“That’s...a police boat,” Shelly gasped, watching the black shape dash through the water below - and they were gaining. Half-frozen, Maxie’s hand hovered over his Pokeball.
This was it, he thought.
“Well, it’s not like this ship can slow down for them,” Archie said, half-hopefully, “It’s at full speed, ferries take, like...half an hour to brake - “
“Well, those things aren’t slowing down either!” Maxie rebutted, “What do we do? Hide? Fight them?”
“I - I have no idea…” Archie stammered, leading everyone up to the bow of the ship, as high above the water as possible. From here, they got a good view of the police-boat below. Already, someone was readying a rope to throw onto the ship’s hull…

Archie and Maxie both looked at each other, then back down -
“What about…” Maxie said, barely audibly and barely sure…
“Both?” Archie realised, taking the Pokeball out from his belt - “Both could work.”
Their fingers hovered over the buttons.
“We just have to wait until we get out of Hoenn’s...airspace - no, waterspace!” Tabitha declared, taking out his Pokeball as well, “I think!”

“All of you, hide underneath something!” Maxie ordered -
“And be prepared to go below deck!” Archie finished, “And don’t worry about us!” he added.

A Crobat burst out of its ball in a shower of sparks, and a Sharpedo fell towards the ocean’s surface. The shark immediately started gaining on the police boat, rushing towards it and leaving a wake - no doubt whoever was inside saw it too.
“No!” Archie called down to it, screaming over the sound of spray - “Stop! Go back! They’re gonna try and take you out!”
Meanwhile, Maxie was thinking of what he could do with this bat of his, scanning the police boat for anything that could only be attacked from the air -

And hopefully without needing a fish.

- - -
Meanwhile, inside the police boat, the captain was trying to contact the Seagallop -
“This is Hoenn Police Force to Seagallop! Slow your ship down immediately and turn around!”

- - -

“Skitters!” he cried, “Use Air Cutter on the radio transmitter!”
Immediately, the bat dived, cutting through the spray, the wind and crashing into the mess of metal and wires on top of the ship. Both leaders saw the flash of light, as the fragments of it crashed to the ocean surface.

- - -

“Do you read me?!” he repeated, “Captain, do you read me?”
“The radio isn’t working anymore!” another attendant told him, pointing to the now smoking roof of the boat.
“Seriously?” yet another one said, “The cricket was on at three, too…”
“ATTACK THEM BACK!” the captain ordered, sending the designated fighters outside, “We’re just going to have to board the boat ourselves.”

- - -

“Aqua Jet!” Archie ordered, watching as his Sharpedo sent a stream of water at the ship. Harmlessly, it streaked down the armored hull, and a police officer’s Roserade, standing on the hull, sent a Leaf Tornado in return - with perfect accuracy.
“Ignore the Roserade,” Maxie ordered, “Now go for an Air Cutter on the - “
But it was Crobat that took the hit.
The bat hit the water like a stone, slipping under the whitewater in less than a second.
“Skitters?” Maxie gasped, “Skitters, come back!”

But nothing happened.

And as the officers congratulated each other on the unexpected victory, one of them watched as the other Pokemon disappeared too. He would’ve assumed it had given up the ghost.

So did Archie, to be entirely honest.

But...not his Pokémon.

Struggling with the turbulent water, the Sharpedo tried to pick out a shape - the wings, the head, anything - it lunged toward the first dark shape it saw, pulling it towards the light in its huge mouth. Though it couldn’t look down at its target, it did notice bubbles of precious air going, up, up, up to the surface...

The scene was barely visible, but Maxie could make out the Sharpedo resurfacing.
And in its mouth, flapping its wings again like nothing happened...was Skitters.

“Gracious Groudon,” he whispered, “It...”
Getting his resolve back, he pointed to the ship’s engine - and found that Archie was pointing too. Silently, they decided who’d make their move first.

“Sharpedo, use Skull Bash on that metal thing! To your left!”
Quickly, the Roserade on the ship leapt to the ship’s stern, preparing a Petal Dance. Razor-sharp rose petals started cutting through the pelting rain, flying past the ship’s hull, scraping the paint off with a loud, discordant screech...but a gust of wind was moving them slightly out of the way.

Skitters was back in flight.

“NOW!” Maxie called, “Use Confuse Ray on the Roserade!”
“How do you even know it’s going to work?” Archie scolded quietly, “You can’t count on the effect to work…”

The water lit up with a spectacular array of colours and shapes - enveloping the Roserade and all the officers completely. Still, the Roserade kept its sights on the advancing Sharpedo.
“ROSERADE!” someone shouted, “UNLEASH THE PETALS, THEN GET US ON THE SHIP!”
The Pokemon curled into itself, and all the blood-red petals that flew in the air started swirling around it like a storm. Sharpedo couldn’t even brace itself - it was so near the ship’s engine, but completely out in the open water…
Archie held his breath.

Roserade threw open its arms and released the petals into the sky, flying into the water, the ship - and itself. In a flurry of shredded leaves and pollen, it collapsed onto the ship, and Sharpedo, finally charged. The boat shook with terror, and the officers onboard gasped in horror as the engine’s parts, one by one, drifted in the water behind…

And the Seagallop kept speeding through the water ahead.

Quickly, Archie and Maxie recalled their Pokemon and ducked below the handrail.
Finally taking a deep breath for the first time in ages, they both collapsed. The Pokeballs in their hands gently shook - either from happiness or fear, they couldn’t tell.
Completely ignorant of the screaming passengers on the top deck, the captain began to speak.

“We’ve now officially left Hoenn!” he said, nonchalantly, as though it was another scripted comment to make the trip less boring.

Of course, he never heard the cheering, echoing from the very, very tip of the ship’s bow.

- - -

“God damnit,” the captain of the police boat snapped, “We’ve lost them, look. ...One of you’s gonna have to tell the Kanto police it’s their job now.”
“Sir, we don’t...have a radio transmitter anymore, remember?” said a small voice.
“YES, I remember! What the hell are we supposed to do, then?”

The whole craft was silent.

“We could play Go Fish?” the new recruit offered, holding up a pack of cards.

- - -

After a quick, reassuring text from Archie’s phone, the admins came out from hiding under a pile of netting and lifejackets. They were quiet first, but soon they all started asking questions at once - what happened? Who made that huge boom noise? Did they fight together or did they both do their own thing? ...Are they safe?

Luckily, the leaders could answer all of those questions - though they spoke quietly so they didn’t attract attention, you could tell there was a little more energy in them.
Just a little. Together, the teams decided that since they didn’t buy a cabin, that they would hide from the storm in this little outcrop. The only reason anyone would come here is if the ship were sinking, and if so, that would be the least of their problems…

“So - so your Crobat sacrificed itself?” Tabitha gasped, “That’s...amazing! I’ll have to teach my Koffing how to do this in a pinch!”
“It...didn’t sacrifice itself,” Maxie answered, “A Pokemon wouldn’t do that.”
“It did, though,” Archie butted in, “I saw it. It had a lil’ glint in its eye.”

“It’s not happening again, that’s for sure.”

“Maybe it got really attached to my Sharpedo,” Archie tried explaining - before suddenly dropping his voice low, “...back when we were on the same team?”

“That would explain it.” Maxie released his Crobat from the ball, holding it as it shivered.
He could feel a small atishoo as it coughed up spray, not letting go of his coat.

“...Yeah.”

It was clear to both of them - they remembered the times when the two Pokémon would snap at each other and play, and that maybe their enthusiasm on the battlefield wasn’t just them copying their owners.

That maybe their ‘dip in performance’ when the other one fainted wasn’t just tiredness.

“Well, now I have to…cull this self-sacrificing behavior before it gets any worse,” he said to his Pokémon, “...It’ll have to learn to fend for itself.”

Archie nodded, before giving Skitters a pat on the head for its service.
“I’m pretty sure that Leaf Tornado wouldn’t have made Sharpie faint in one hit,” he reassured it with a smile, “It didn’t actually...have to…”

Maxie’s shocked expression stopped him halfway through. Instinctively, he pulled Skitters closer, and stopped talking completely.

“Sorry,” Archie mumbled.

The two of them watched, then, as Skitters and Sharpie leapt away, recovered now, and began dancing around each other. Seemingly happy that the other was alive, they were barely shaken.
Archie and Maxie simply...left them.

And so, the Seagallop sailed off into the distance. Hoenn was nothing more than a dot on the horizon, lit from behind by the rising sun. The ship slowed as it reached deeper waters, drifting through the sea and leaving a gentle wake.

As the day broke, finally, and the storm became less torrential, and more a gentle tip-tap of raindrops on the wooden shield above them, Archie looked up and around to realise…

Hoenn was gone.

He shook, a tiny bit, when he remembered why exactly he was leaving. And that he’d never sit on the deck of this ship again, or disembark onto the shores of Lilycove - home. Maxie was curious, and saw what wasn’t on the horizon anymore, too.

There were going to be things left behind, they both thought, trying to ignore their Pokémon playfully tussling in the background.

That was inevitable.

Nothing could be done about it, right?

Chapter Text

Two Pokemon on one side.
Two on the other.

“Sharpie, you use Skull Bash on the Leafeon!”
“Grimee, back it up with Screech!”
The two Pokémon side by side watched each other carefully -
“NO! - “

Archie took a deep breath, tried to calm down…
“Don’t wait for them to move,” he explained, “You move first!”
“I think it’s got the idea,” Shelly smiled, feeling the shockwave as her Grimer screamed, and Sharpedo shot forward like its namesake torpedo - the crash was impressive. The shark found its target, and in a flurry of leaves, Leafeon hit the deck with a sickening crunch.

“Arceus almighty.”
The other trainer and his partner rose to their feet -
...The little Leafeon opened its eyes.

“Leafeon! Use Leaf Tornado!”
Archie’s heart sank into his chest.
“And Blissey! You use Heal Bell!”

The quiet ding-a-ling was soon drowned out by the howling wind - the tornado, skating across the deck, scaring the Sharpedo into running away, but it ran too late -
Slam - bam. The Sharpedo and Grimer were hurled into the air, and landed, two fainted Pokemon. The leaves settled around them, like on a part of the landscape...

They were, in fact, knocked out in one hit.

…

“Here!” offered the jolly Leafeon trainer, “Have some Revives. Thanks for training with us!”
“Yeah,” said the other, “Your Pokemon are really, y’know...Badass? Tough?”

“Aw, geez, you really didn’t have to…”
Archie placed the Revive on Sharpedo’s tounge, letting it slowly dissolve, letting Sharpie open its eyes in its own time. It winced a little, but that quickly turned to quiet tiredness as it slumped into Archie’s arms, melting a little.
“Do...that,” he finished, petting the shark.
The trainers held out their hands, expectantly. The one on the right jiggled their fingers a little, as Archie reached for his purse.
“Hey, hey just give him $100, we’ll be fine…” Shelly suggested, watching as Archie gave the pair around $500, and sheepishly walked away.
“What did I just say?...” she whispered.

Archie ignored them, shaking his head, noting that the new empty space in the purse was his. Not hers.

“Better luck next time?” he asked both Shelly and Sharpie.
“Better luck next time.”

—

Meanwhile at the Revolutionary Magnetic Seagallop Ferry Bar & Restaurant, Maxie, Tabitha and Courtney had been at a table of their own…
Until about a few minutes ago.

“Has anyone seen a Crobat?”
The three of them ran for the little bat in the air -
“Very overtired, very hungry for sugar...”
Bottles broke and tables tipped -
“We’re just crossing into the Sevii Islands, so can all the underaged drinkers please leave the bar…” said a bartender, “I’m sorry, the drinking age is 18 here - SIR, SIT DOWN!”
Maxie didn’t.
“SIR, WOULD YOU PLEASE - “
A few customers ducked under leathery wings. Drinks flew, Skitters flew faster -
“Does anyone have a net?!” Maxie asked the crowd, waving his hands around, “A tarpaulin? Anything - “
“CONTROL YOUR OWN BLOODY BAT, MATE!”
“ARCEUS ALMIGHTY, it just hit my FACE!” screamed a young woman.
Grumbling, Maxie and Courtney leapt onto a table with a thump, and took off their coats in sync. Courtney kept an eye on the agitated Skitters, which was now flapping away to the bar like...well, a bat out of hell -
“Guys - wait up...” said Tabitha, ducking through the crowd. People were unsure where to run. He wasn’t even sure where to run.

“Hey! Tabitha!” Courtney ordered, “Get ready to catch the bat!”
“Catch the bat? -”
“Yes! Alright, Courtney...one…” Maxie counted, “two...three…”
Immediately, they threw their coats, watched them gracefully fly through the air, over the heads of guests, bartenders, milkshakes, hamburgers…
They hit Skitters in the back. In an instant, they hit the floor with a clunk.
“SHOOT!” Tabitha gasped, diving on the wiggling pile of fabric and bat -

“Calm down. It’s one of those Pokemon that fall asleep if you cover its eyes,” Maxie informed him, leaving very, very quickly to find a very stunned-looking, and slightly annoyed-looking Archie, who’d come to see what the fuss was about. ...Shelly had stopped walking when she saw the tipped-over tables.
“Ahh, welcome back,” he continued seamlessly, walking in front of the tussle between man and bat on the ground behind him, “How did the training go?”

“Good, good…” Archie replied, trying to peer around him.

Crap, he thought, he’s speaking really fast again.
Other than the completely destroyed dining area, something definitely happened.

“Bats - BATS LIVE IN CAVES, THOUGH!” Tabitha protested, bundling the Crobat into the coat and struggling to keep hold, “IT’S MEANT TO BE...never mind. Never mind! I guess I’ll tell you later!”

“Hey, what happened while I was gone?” Archie asked, “I heard...well, I heard screaming.”
“I think…”
Maxie glanced to his side - at the remains of a cocktail, and bat fur.
“Someone spilled their very expensive drink.”

“Really?” Archie replied, nodding like he believed it, “Wo-o-ow.”
“Anyway, there’s a Pokemon drinks bar over there in case your Sharpedo needed healing…” Maxie continued, speaking incredibly fast and leading Archie away just as quick, “I’m just going to see if there’s any kind that can heal my - “
Tabitha shoved his way in front of the pair, holding Maxie’s scratched, scruffed, bitten, and dusty coat. (It was definitely wriggling, too.)
“...my Skitters!” Maxie exclaimed, trying to sound pleasantly surprised.
Tabitha shoved the bundled-up bat directly into his arms.
“I’m not doing that for you again - you understand?”

And at that, he stormed off to find Courtney.

“Well, I’ll…” Maxie sighed, “I’ll tell you what happened when we sit down.”

- - -

After a long conversation, Maxie deduced that Archie wasn’t mad, just disappointed.

“So - then it was spooked by something,” Archie suggested, after listening to Maxie’s long explanation - “That happens with Sharpie a lot if they’ve been up against a lot of stronger Pokémon and they faint suddenly - they don’t really get out of ‘battle mode.’”
“By that logic, then, I should make it feel as relaxed as possible, and keep - ”

In a split second, Maxie dived across the table. Sharpie’s nose was squished against his hand, and Skitters against the other.

“ - it away from other Pokémon?”
“Threatening ones,” Archie nodded, as Sharpie hopped straight over Maxie’s back -
“Ow!”
- into Skitters’ wings, smiling with its hundred-toothed mouth.
Skitters was either tired, or happy to see them.
“Oh.”

Silently, Maxie elected to let them be, and kept drinking his Red Kricketot cocktail.

The bartenders gave the two play-fighting Pokémon a cold glare, watching to make sure they didn’t tip over any more drinks, annoy any more customers.
It was policy in Kanto now that you weren’t allowed to demand a Pokémon get back in its ball, not unless it were actively harming people.
...Policy smhpolicy.

“Ah, bartender...can I have a Grasshopper with two straws?” Archie asked, seeing Matt waltzing up behind him with a packet of chips and his Pokeballs.
“Here.”
“Thanks...Hey, hey bro,” Archie called, taking his drink and sticking both straws in his mouth, “Look how fast I can drink.”
The whole glass was half-empty in less than a few seconds, and that was before Skitters shoved straight past the two leaders and took a straw for himself.

“Greedy little…”
“Skitters!” cried a startled Maxie -
Before giving up.
This stupid bat made his heart melt.

- - -

“I’m thinking, wh - if we get somewhere safe,” Shelly said, “I’m gonna make a photo album with all of these, like a physical one. ...That way, I can pretend we just had a really high-stakes road trip. Maybe that’ll help.”
Behind him, her and Courtney’s camera phones flashed in sync when Skitters cracked a smile - they turned to each other and missed Skitters chewing the straw in two.
“I’d buy that,” Shelly commented, pointing at Courtney’s pastel-filtered screen.
“I’d buy that,” she replied, quietly.
“Oh my god, would you - “

- - -

It was around when Maxie had a discarded straw flung in his face that he came back to his senses. For the last few minutes, he’d been trying to disappear off this plane of existence.

The bar was just too quiet.

Apart from Skitters, who was completely unfazed.
Strange.

They seemed to not be reacting to this huge change in scenery, in scent, in schedule. Normally it took a few days of introductory show-arounds, nest-building, et cetera et cetera before Skitters would calm down completely. Camerupt didn’t even bear thinking about; he’d have to come out when things were calmer, and safer.
He remembered re-introducing Skitters to the Magma base after construction was finished.
...He found them again, two days later, in the basement of Lilycove University, where the Pokemon-Directed Terraforming Agency once worked.

With a burned wing.

He picked him up and rocked him like a child, and looked around the empty office where he used to work, and saw how comfortable it would have felt. The piles of collected sticks, torn up bits of paper on the shelves. The spaces in the bookshelves where he never put the books back.

The pictures of him and Archie on the walls.

What was different this time, what was stopping him from upping and migrating back to Hoenn - well, other than the sea winds and fifty plus kilometre distance, but Maxie knew Skitters would try -
He had a hunch.

“Ah - Archie - “ Maxie asked quietly, trying to get his attention as discreetly as possible - “...How long do you think Skitters knew you?”

“How long do you…” Archie repeated, before finally understanding the question - “Ohh.”
He paused for a moment, as he tried to remember - his mind was blank.
“Just...because he seems rather comfortable around you,” Maxie explained, nonetheless taking Skitter’s wing and pulling him back, “Or perhaps just around Sharpedo.”
“Yeah. I think it’s been around...five years.”
Calmly, Archie pet Skitters’ head, making it melt into a little lump of wings and fur that clung to him. Still as catty as it always was, still as bratty as it always was.

Nice to see that Maxie still spoiled his Pokemon, that nothing had changed.
Apart from the fact that when he’d last seen them, they were just a Golbat.

“Perhaps it misses you.”

You learn more about Pokemon psychology every day, Maxie considered, about how it wasn’t just Rapidash that got spooked by things at the edge of their vision, about how it wasn’t just Munna that remembered everything.
Did Pokemon understand what people were saying?
Would they have understood, if he told them why they wouldn’t be seeing the Lilycove University again, the familiar walls and people…
That they wouldn’t be seeing their ‘battle partner’ Sharpedo?...
Their swim teacher with the blue bandana?

“Maybe it’s just happy to see Sharpie again?...” Archie asked himself, “I dunno if it knew me well enough.”
“No, I’m pretty sure it does miss you - “ Maxie insisted - suddenly too.

It made little sense to him, but Archie - well, now it was coming from the trainer, not himself, he believed it.

“I mean,” Maxie began, “- obviously it won’t - “
Skitters turned to the right and spat out the cocktail.
“It won’t be any trouble - “
The look on Archie’s face wasn’t going away.
“...if it does - is,” he continued, almost babbling by this point, “It doesn’t get distressed, or, or disoriented -“

Archie looked down, at the very distressed Crobat burrowing into his hand and realized what was going on.
“I’m...not worried?” he reassured him, as confidently as he could, “It’s your Pokémon, y’know.”

Maxie nodded, took a few deep breaths and fell silent.
“They’ve only - HEY! SHARPIE! You can’t eat straws!”
He ignored Archie’s desperate dive below the bar.
And the rest of the Aqua gang coming over to see what was going on.

...That was when Maxie got an idea. An idea slightly more ethical than summoning Groudon and with around the same risk factor.

“I think what Skitters needs...is a drink.”
Archie raised an eyebrow, slightly.
“And Sharpedo.”
“That’s better.”

— — —

Ahh, the Revolutionary Seabound Magnetic Bar & Restaurant - probably the biggest money maker on the Seagallop. People came, people stayed. The ones that said they’d packed their own lunch stayed for the Los Ninos Luncheon, the ones that came for the All-You-Can-Drink deal for a couple hot chocolates stayed until they legally couldn’t sell alcohol.

Then there was the troupe of five or six people still sitting at the bar.
...And the bat, and the shark.

“Right, here’s an idea!” Matt called out from the back, “The shark hates chocolate chunks, right?”
“Yeah? It’s got sore teeth,” Archie said.
“Give it the marshmallows, then!”
“Genius,” Courtney gasped, getting the bartender’s attention.

“One Moo Moo milkshake, with marshmallows on top…” she ordered, pointing at the oversized menu -
“With strawberries,” Maxie interjected, holding up Skitters and turning to them, “You like those, don’t you? Hm?”
“Add some caramel,” Tabitha added.
“You’re just saying that cause you -“ Shelly began...
“I’m allergic to caramel,” he snapped back, “So don’t you start with that! Alright?”
“Calm down, you guys…”
“Can we all agree that they both really like the little…” Archie started, “...uh, what are they called again?”

Maxie ran his finger down the menu - “Hundreds and Thousands.”
“Hundreds and Thousands, a lot of them!”
“And add…lemon zest,” Shelly suggested, “It’ll wake ‘em up a little.”

“Alright. I’ll get that ready for you,” said the bartender, “Do you want...one for the bat and the shark?”
“Ye - “
Skitters slapped Maxie in the face.
“I’ll get one…” he groaned, “With two straws.”
“Oh, c’mon, put your foot down - “ Archie said to him, nudging his shoulder, “You’re not gonna get anywhere doing that.”
“Waiter?”
“But the whole two straw thing, that’s a great idea - just, uh, giving you a pointer for later...y’know...”

With a clink, the Pokémon-sized milkshake appeared on the bar. A beacon of sugar, a mountain of marshmallows -
“Hey, Shelly,” Archie said, “slide it over here.”
Shelly slapped the side of the drink, with absolutely no effect.
She slapped it again, with the same result.
“The bar’s magnetic,” Courtney mumbled, grabbing the drink herself and passing it along…
And waited for the moment of truth.

Everyone, except Tabitha, watched as Sharpie and Skitters took a straw, and started drinking up...
“Awwww - “
A small piece of plastic straw hit the floor.
“Yooooo - “ Archie gasped, picking up the straw anyway so Sharpie couldn’t swallow it. Better safe than sorry.

No-one spoke, apart from cooing over the Pokémon. All of them could agree that this was a fantastic idea.

Including Maxie, who was waiting for the right time to bring this up with Crobat

“Alright, Skitters, there’s one thing I need to say,” he announced, assertively - “Skitters?”
He pulled the bat away from the drink for a moment, petting it the whole time and keeping his hands out of bite range.
“This is a special treat, because Sharpie is going away. I’m afraid you won’t be seeing him again…”
Skitters, on form, tried to bite him.
“So I hope you enjoy these milkshakes in the meantime…”
He trailed off, letting go and letting Skitters back to his drink, back to going under Sharpie’s fin.
“I suppose it’s...my way to say sorry.”

Archie was silent, calmly petting Sharpie’s back and staring off into space with a faint smile on his face.

“Love ya, Sharpie,” he said simply, and got up to walk away.
...Just as Sharpie started jumping up and down. ...Quite a lot.
“Aww, he’s excited!”
Tabitha already had his head in his hands.
“Dude, stooop…” Shelly laughed, shaking Tabitha’s shoulder, “I’m sure nothing’s gonna happen, and...wait, why are they on the bar?...”
She paused and looked as far away as possible.
“Anyway, they- “
Unfortunately, no-one ignored the loud crash. And bat noises.
“...don’t really get sugar rushes, and besides...ooh. Ooh, no. Actually, I’m gonna go take care of that.”
“No, no…” Tabitha groaned, “It’s fine, I’ll wrangle them in a minute...”
“You just sit right there.”
“Seriously.”

“Wait - what?” Maxie cried, snapping out of his little daydreaming session, “Oh, good gracious Groudon, I’ll go get them.”
Both Shelly and Maxie vaulted over the bar and crashed down on the other side.
“Uh, I think I can hear them jumping around back there -“ Shelly said, “where though?””
“They went that way!”
And with that, they both ran off.

“I told you - “ muttered Tabitha, to no-one in particular, “I told you, ‘don’t give the bat that barely ever sleeps your coffee!’ but did you listen? No! No, you did not!”

“That’s what happened?” Matt gasped, having sneakily taken the seat next to Tabitha - “Maxie told me someone spilled their drink.”

“Uh…”

“Yeah, I know. Crazy, right?”

— — —

In between the shelves of different drinks and ingredients they went, making sure this time not to knock everything over. The trail was clear as day, the kitchen wasn’t very big anyway -
“Come on,” Shelly ordered, taking Maxie by the arm, “I think they’re behind the wine cabinet!”
And ‘this way’ led to a massive storage cabinet.
“Who are they again?...” a chef asked no-one in particular.
“They’re probably new.”

The doorway smelled of sugar and pastry - the mess of bite marks and fur told a different story.
“I have an idea,” Maxie said, sticking his hand through a bite shaped hole, “If we can just reach through here, we can unlock the door from the inside and step right in…”

— — —

Meanwhile, Courtney sat behind the counter, sipping the rest of the milkshake directly from the glass.

“Stupid Wi-Fi,” she mumbled, fiddling with her phone.

— — —

It took a minute or so for Matt to go get Archie from the side of the ship, and drag him along with the Sharpie search party - he was willing, of course. And very quick on his feet...
“If he gets in with the raw meat,” Archie said, “he’s probably gonna eat it all...“
“Yeah?” Matt questioned, “And?”
“And then he might choke on a bone or something - “
“You could do, like…the Heimlich thing.”
“That doesn’t work on sharks!”

— — —

Meanwhile, Tabitha tried to pick up Maxie’s coat again, just in case he needed to catch another Pokémon.

...It was a lot heavier than he expected, and no one was around -
So - he gave up.

— — —

In the storage unit, full of pastries, raw meat, and health & safety violations, Sharpie and Skitters knocked down another pudding.

Something ticked in their little Pokémon brains that said - a fruit, we should eat.
But then, Skitters remembered he could read labels.
He was an educated bat. A clever bat.
Unlike Sharpie, who still had plastic wrapping impales on his teeth.

The chocolate one you had to make in a microwave - Skitters couldn’t make that, he had no hands or feet, and calmly he took it back into the top shelf, suggesting a new one. The caramel?

Anything that wasn’t a milkshake. God, those got old fast.

If you watched carefully, you could see Sharpie nodding.
Maybe pointing at a croissant with a fin.

Despite the loud banging on the door, the whole scene was surprisingly civil - the floor clean as a whistle, the spoils they’d gotten down from the shelves all lined up in a row.

A caramel one? No, that got stuck in teeth and Sharpie only had so many. A ‘dulce du leche?’ They didn’t even know what that was, it could be poisonous for all they knew. Maybe if it were plain, they could both share.
Maybe dip it in the leftover caramel pudding if they wanted flavor.
And so, they agreed to get the packet of pastries up on the top shelf. In between the cakes and the lobster - they could see it! Just above them!

They would jump on the count of three - Crobat would fly, Sharpedo would bite.

One -
Two -

And then, the doors on both sides crashed open, making the pastries fly down onto the floor and making the pair of Pokémon look incredibly guilty.
Sharpie just bit down on the croissant.

On one side - Maxie and Shelly, facing down the shark.
His face was pale, still holding that grave expression while a drip of sweat fell off his brow.
On the other - Archie and Matt, staring down the bat.
His expression went from concerned for the shark to just concerned in less than a second.
Both of their owners switched sides, knelt down to their Pokémon’s level, while the other two looked around in awe at what they’d done.
The little Pokémon’s hearts dropped.

Archie reached out his arms to take the Sharpedo, Maxie held out his hand to snatch the caramel pudding, and both Pokémon winced a little as they realised what they’d done -
Except that didn’t happen.
Archie gave his shark a bear hug, letting Sharpedo tear open the packet joyfully and hold the pastry carefully in its mouth, not disturbing it, not complaining.

And Maxie simply gave Skitters a pat on the head. Was that an approving smirk he saw? He couldn’t tell.

And so, quietly, the leaders carried their Pokémon out and shut the doors behind them.

“Are we gonna make them, uh...give back the pastry?” Shelly questioned, tapping the leaders on the back while Matt and Archie exchanged the shark.
“No,” Maxie replied, quickly, “It’s better off that they’re independent.”
“And what’s the point?” Archie mused, “...anyway?”

— — —

Tabitha woke up from his nap on the counter, only to find his boss staring him in the face.
“I - uh - “
He was holding his Crobat under his arm, and eyeing him a little suspiciously.
“Oh! Hi, I must’ve...conked out for a second there,” he explained, snapping to attention, “What happened?”

“Someone drank the milkshake,” Matt declared, like a detective about to draw the chalk line around a dead body.

“Ahh, it’s fine,” Archie laughed, noticing the white moustache on Courtney’s face, “It’s not like it’s the last time we’ll ever drink one, y’know?”
“Maybe it will be,” Courtney said, cryptically.
“Check this out, though - “
Matt held up Sharpedo, still with the croissant in its jaws. It smiled, or got close to it.
“They brought snacks!”

Both Pokémon were set loose on the bar, setting to work on their little dessert like a pack of ravenous Poochyena - wrappers went flying, so did crumbs - but neither Pokémon ate the other’s food.
Strange behavior, Maxie thought.
Apparently you only observed that kind of behavior on Pokémon of the same species.
In normal circumstances, you would never see a Crobat tearing off part of its food, and nudging it to a Sharpedo.
They would eat each other alive.

“Wow, uh…” Tabitha gasped, watching Skitters immediately not get on a sugar high, “So...they stole all this in 5 minutes?”
“Think so,” Matt replied, “Not sure how.”
“Why can’t my Koffing do that?”
“It...doesn’t have arms.”

Wait a second, Maxie realised - how would two things eat each other alive? And was he overthinking this?

Skitters took a large bite out of his bit of croissant, brushing the crumbs under the bar with his wing. It looked it him proudly, and then continued doing the exact same thing.

...Probably.

He sat down beside Skitters and Sharpie, observing them and getting nothing from it.
Other than the fact that Archie also sat there, watching his Pokémon and making sure nothing bad happened…

But also looking at him.

Right then, right there, a large horn blared, startling Sharpie enough to knock his plate off the table - Archie immediately caught their fin, and waited for the announcement…

“We are now around a half hour away from coming ashore in Vermillion City - so please, collect your belongings and prepare to disembark.”

Archie’s heart sank a little, but that was probably just from the plate smashing on the floor.

Or it could have been Maxie getting up and moving to the side, gesturing that he wanted to talk.

Definitely that.

— — —-

Maxie led him back, back, to the same railing where they’d fought the police boat a few hours before. The scars were still there, the scratches in the side of the ship were visible from up here, and...one petal from a dance lay on the deck, razor sharp edge lodged in the wood like a splinter.
Carefully so his fingers weren’t cut, Archie picked it up and put it in his pocket. A few seconds later, he forgot it was there.

Unsurprisingly, no-one was loitering around, but for once that seemed to make the whole situation a little more intimidating.

Though he didn’t know why.

“I was...interested,” Maxie asked him, “In how you planned to continue the escape.”
“...Why,” Archie replied, after a while thinking of what to say, “...do ‘y need ideas?”

“Of course not.”
...Ah, he should have expected that.
“Well,” Archie continued, making large and loud gestures to make up for the quiet voice - “We’re…picking up another van…”
And then?

“And then we’re going to...drive west, until we get to Johto…”

And then?
“And then we…”

Ah. He remembered now. He didn’t have a plan in the first place. He did have one small one, so small it didn’t count, at the start, and then…

“Keep going,” Archie finished.

...then Maxie happened.

“That’s it?” Maxie muttered under his breath - hard to pick out if it was concern or that same mocking, patronizing, hoity-toity tone he always used -
“Yeah, that’s it,” Archie stated, “Look - it’ll be easier to manage with only three people in the cab, I get that now -
“Yes, but - “

“And I only had, like, one day’s notice to plan this whole trip anyway,” Archie continued, face flushing red, “- why, did you have more?” he almost spat.
The look on Maxie’s face told him nothing, as always.
“Huh?”
There wasn’t a smirk, at least, so that was a plus.

“I understand,” Maxie said at last, “Why you’d...not want to go with the whole two teams, one car arrangement.”
Archie nodded, accepting he had said enough.
“I can...accept it.”
He nodded again, even less surprised.

Archie gazed over the horizon: Kanto had snuck up on them while they were having fun and drinking - hilly and dotted with flickering lights.
So many people in one place that neither of them knew.

“Still though,” Maxie admitted, “I’d...I’d be lying if I wasn’t a little curious to see where you go. What you’d do.”
“Uh…”
“Does that make sense?” he finished, almost quiet enough to be carried off by the sea breeze.
By this point, Archie lay over the railings in complete silence, only giving Maxie a nod to work with.

“Are you going to try and keep going by sea?” he asked, moving closer.
“No?” Archie replied.
Maxie thought he didn’t catch the surprised look.
“Hey, don’t look so shocked,” he joked, punching his arm, “Sharpedos can’t out-swim police boats, remember? We’d get snapped up like fish in a net - bam. That’d be it.”
Part of Maxie knew that Archie wasn’t being serious, that this was normal.
The part that controlled his face didn’t get the memo.

“Well…” he said, quickly changing the subject, “Should we try the goodbye again?”
“Yeah...yeah,” Archie agreed, “Only this time...without the awkward handshake?”
“If it’s any consolation, I thought it was awkward too.”

Turning to face each other and gathering themselves, neither of them knew when to speak first.
“Goodbye?...” Maxie began.
“...bye,” Archie replied, taking a deep breath in before he spoke.

Casually, he put a hand on Maxie’s shoulder, and smiled -
“And good luck.”
“Good luck for you as...well...,” Maxie repeated, as Archie’s face went quickly back to his usual stoic look, the gears still turning in his head as he pondered what ‘good luck’ would do for him. Still, they remained there, for a few seconds, letting each other think.

Before turning away, and returning to the little teams that had already formed on the bar.

— — —

“Hey, you’re back!” Tabitha greeted, “You hear they’re having a nickel shot night?”
“Oh, please don’t -” Courtney groaned.
“I’m…” Maxie began, sober but still slurring his words a little, “Look, we’re driving in around an hour.”
“...I’m not driving, though,” Tabitha pointed out smugly.
“If I fall asleep at the wheel, one of you’s gonna have to take over…”
“Too late for that,” Courtney commented, motioning towards all the empty shot glasses.
“You’d better not fall asleep,” Tabitha told him, trying to poke him on the nose and missing completely, “Or I will knock you right out.”
“Look - I’d rather not start drinking right now,” Maxie said quietly.
“Ahh.”

“I have a feeling I wouldn’t stop,” he laughed, in theory to Tabitha, but in reality, to himself.

— — —

“Bro!” Matt called out to Archie once he sat back down, “What happened over there?”
“Ah, stuff.”
“Just...stuff?” Matt questioned, “It’s okay, you can tell me…”
“No, seriously,” Archie said with a small laugh in his voice, “we didn’t talk about anything, really. At all.”
“We still down for getting to the rental place by...two?” Shelly questioned, scrolling through her phone with a pamphlet by her side.
“Yep,” Archie replied, patting her on the back, “We’re all good.”

“Hey, Tabitha’s not doing...five more shots, is he?...” Matt questioned, peering over and seeing him pick up another glass.
“Yep,” Shelly replied, knowing his drinking habits well.
“I’m gonna go take care of this…”

Maxie and Archie were still as spectators, as Tabitha and Matt argued over whether Nickel Shot Night was a good idea. And then over whether it was ethical.
...And then whether they should try the banana daiquiris.

Archie had seen this before, in the many parties, regrettably or thankfully with drinks he hosted in the days before Team Magma and Aqua existed.

Tabitha wasn’t as much of a heavy drinker back then, and Matt was -
They were some strange memories to have.
And as always, Maxie would get drunk and come up with ten new ways to make Lilycove City more space efficient. And god help anyone that argued with him.

Again, strange memories to keep. Strange, to watch Maxie turn away the drinks now and keep his mouth shut.

He hadn’t thought Matt and Tabitha would really ever talk like this again, he hadn’t thought Maxie would say ‘good luck’ to him again, he hadn’t thought Sharpie would ever try and nibble Crobat - no, Skitter’s wing again…

He hadn’t thought any of this would happen again.

He thought he would leave Hoenn, then there was a blank space in his future plan, snapped up like a fish in a net - bam.

That’d be it.

And yet as much as he tried to think, every train of thought led to the same thing, that eventually someone would make a mistake.

And Shelly and Matt and Sharpie and everyone else would not be there from that moment on.

After that point, he…

He didn’t think of what else would happen to him.

“Hey - “ Shelly asked, nudging his shoulder - “Do you think we should try the disguises again?...”
“Uh…”
If she looked at him again, she would see him glancing back at Maxie. Again and again.
“Your choice,” he said at last, “Doesn’t really matter, no-one’s gonna recognise us anyway.”

— — —

Maxie was doing it again.

He hadn’t done this kind of compulsive watch-checking since the drought and flood had ended.

It wasn’t a thing that a good, well-under-control adult did, as paradoxical as it sounded. No, no.

Twenty-four minutes until the ship arrived in Vermillion City.
About enough time to have a long, philosophical conversation about how Pokémon needed homes and the sea and how cruise ships helped that - or something. Something along those lines.

Why was he so occupied by the watch and the scene going on in front of him - Tabitha was spitting out the drink and Matt was telling him about how it didn’t even taste like a banana - then the watch again, then -

Why did he keep conveniently looking up when Archie was staring at him?
Tabitha was probably wanting to ask him questions, Courtney too…
He looked back down, trying to make it look as natural as possible.

Twenty-three minutes…

It would be rude to make it look like he hated looking at Archie’s face.

And yet…

When he looked up from his brochures and papers around half a minute later, Archie was gone, leaving just an empty space. Off in the distance he walked with his friends, pointing to the mainland.

Probably with excitement.

- - -

Courtney, Shelly and Matt had already walked off on their own, chattering quietly.
The two leaders were completely unaware.

- - -

He got excited so - excited too easily.

Part of Maxie wanted to see too.
But the rest of him, almost all of him, did not and would not get the memo.

And so, they both stayed where they were.

- - -

Tabitha looked over, only to see his other admin swear something.
He didn’t know what, but it probably had something to do with the numbers they exchanged.

- - -

But most of all, Maxie was wondering why they were counting down to the goodbye that, technically, absolutely, one hundred percent already happened.

From this moment on, they would not have to see each other. Maybe back when they still lived in Lilycove that would have done something to them, but now - here, now -

There was nothing they would do.

Other people couldn’t be their first priority.

Chapter Text

The whole process of getting a rental car was...relatively seamless this time.

As they watched their former grunts drive away, both Archie and Maxie walked into two different stores, followed by their admins and over-excited Pokemon.
Torterra Travel nodded when they heard Tabitha’s fake name, and they never checked his ID the second time. Five-Star didn’t notice Archie’s weirdly positioned bandana, that conveniently hid most of his forehead.

Archie whisked everyone off to Saffron City as soon as he got the keys - best to visit the city first for supplies, and then retreat into the country towns.
With just the water, the sandwiches, the sleeping bags, the car felt a little...impersonal. Empty. (How long were they going to spend in this thing, anyway?) Might as well make it home , Shelly suggested, and Archie wholeheartedly agreed.

Maxie, however, had taken a different exit on the highway to freedom, and was now on his way to Lavender Town - a little scattering of shops and houses, clustered around the Pokemon Tower. Most importantly, it one of those towns where you only ever passed through...the perfect place to stop and print a new ID.
He’d been burned once. If there was one thing he remembered from all the crime shows he watched (and also common sense…) it was that if you got caught using a fake ID - you don’t use it again.

‘Richard Grant’? Who was he? He’d be Moe Bates by the next morning - a simple name switch on the driver’s license, a scrambling of the date of birth and no-one would be able to tell.

So - who to join first?

“Do we wanna treat ourselves?”
“I dunno, man,” said Archie, “We could get the really fluffy one, or we could get the one that…’wicks sweat?’ We won’t need that, it’s winter. Take the fluffy ones!”

Rummaging through the little bin full of randomly assorted sleeping bags, Matt pulled out around three, some of them fit for a professional camper, and some of them brightly decked out, like... 
“Hey, hey bro - I think you might like this!”
He held up a sleeping bag that fit a small kid in colour and size - bright orange, fluffy hood, little blue...rings…

“Is that meant to be...a Camerupt?“

Matt tried to stifle a little grin, and it was the infectious kind.
“Noooooope. Not even gonna touch that, but this - “ he declared, digging out a little blue sleeping bag with a shark fin attached to it - “This is top class.” As the pair left for the counter, Archie tried to put it back, but ended up leaving it on a random shelf - waiting for some more worthy kid to take it home.
“Dude, you should’ve bought it,” Matt whispered to Archie, before Shelly turned up with a camping stove, the fuel, and a confident look on her face.

They bought everything in a minute, and returned with hardly any cash to spare. Matt showed Archie what funds they had left - enough to live on - as all three left Silver Camping Supplies for, hopefully, the last time.
They emerged into the city square, surrounded with people just passing through. The sun was beginning to set, and the shop owners all had the same thought - be the first to switch in the signature neon lights. You could hear chattering, a faint sound of a fountain, and...

Archie’s attention was caught first.
The sound of someone complaining. Protesting.

While everyone else headed to the van, he turned to see what was going on - not far behind him, in fact. Someone had been stopped on the way out of the store, and the man at the entrance demanded he open up his bag - the customer refused at first, before letting him, after the man mouthed something quietly to him. People started walking around them, like an invisible barrier around three metres wide was there.

Bystander effect or self preservation? He couldn’t tell.

Now, he could make out a few things in the conversation when voices got raised, but not much else. Things like “criminal activity, sir”, “I don’t know any Rockets, mate”, “safety”, “random check”, “recent takeover of Silph. Co”, “just making sure”...

And “please, I’m innocent.”

Knowing all he needed to know, Archie continued on to the car, choosing not to think about it any more. His back was turned on the man, though once or twice he checked to see if they hadn’t been taken.
Rockets. He had definitely known that name before, and he’d definitely had brushes with them - maybe more than brushes. Maybe everyone he was travelling with had, but even so…

In situations like this, it was best not to make a big deal out of it.

“Alright, I’ll just key the closest camping park into the DexNav…” he heard Matt saying when he got into the car with him, “And we’ll…”
“No, I reckon I can find us a hotel - ” Archie asserted, taking the DexNav off him and finding a destination, “How does the Spirit-Z hotel sound?” A nice four-star place, not with a pool or bar, but definitely free breakfast.

“Shelly?” he called out, turning to the back seat to throw some supplies there.
“Sounds good,” she replied, packing the little fuel bottles in her bag, and struggling to get the stove in too - eventually, she gave up, and leapt in the back seat. The stove was given a seat of its own, and strapped in so it couldn’t fly through the windshield.
“Whose turn is it to drive?...” Matt asked.
“Mine?...” both Shelly and Archie mumbled at the same time.
“It’s mine now,” Matt decided, planting the key in the engine and driving away.

“Thankyou very much -“
Maxie snatched his credit card back halfway to the machine, flicking it straight into his pocket with the rest of the fake ones. The attendant gave him an interesting look, and another one when he dumped a pile of small notes onto the counter.

“...Have a nice night?” the shopkeeper replied.

And so, he dragged his two shopping baskets out of the store, trying to channel the spirit of a man that was trying to avoid more credit card debt. A few steps out, he collapsed on the kerb, and texted the tiny group chat Courtney had made to say he was done. The streets were empty, apart from the more responsible drinkers of the town.
Either he was a fast shopper, or the decision to split the team up was a very, very bad one.

The phone’s screen was also empty; no reminders from Tabitha or questions from Courtney. No little capital ‘X’ that indicated one of them had been caught.

“Maxiiiiiiiiie!” someone called from around the corner, “I’m back!”

“I’ve got everything!” Courtney told him, sitting down by the kerb with him. She was dragging a few sleeping bags and canvas bags along too, enough for a makeshift throne - “These should be enough for all three of us...and a spare one or two in case we, er... need more bedding…”
“Ahh...,” Maxie replied, leaning back against the wall of the shop, “I think we’ll be able to make the van quite comfortable.”
He nodded - “Good job.”

Courtney gave one of the bags a test punch - “Quite comfortable…” she said under her breath -

“Hey! I’m over here,” Tabitha said, who’d been standing in front of a nearby streetlight, “What’ve you two been doing? - ”
“Oh, waiting,” Maxie replied, “Did you manage to find everything?...”
“Yep! I had to run around quite a bit to get the adapters...and the chargers...and most of the other things…”
He slumped against the wall of the shop as well, propping his legs up on the two shopping bags he’d carried around for half an hour.
“...I need sleep.”

“HEY, YOU!”

Tabitha turned around, and found a beet red, six foot salesman squinting at his face. He tried to get up to their height and higher -
“If you’re not buying anything, can y’ hang out somewhere else?”
- but he ended up looking like an amateur ballet dancer, and gave up.
“You’ve been using my shop as a backrest for five minutes.”

“Who do you think we are, exactly?” Tabitha questioned, “Do you think a bunch of teenagers are the same as three adults?”
“Tabitha?” Maxie hissed, in the middle of throwing a kettle and a suitcase into the back seat.
“We’re tourists. The decent kind.”

“Tourists, eh? Well,” the salesman said, scoffing, “if you want somewhere to drink more, try the Little Grimer, the owner’s really lenient…”

Tabitha just backed off slowly, got in the driver’s seat, and slammed the door, all while continuing to give the man a blank stare.
The kerb was empty as though they’d never been there, and so was the shop they’d just left. The sign flipped around from open to closed, the bell above the door dinged once before being shut up...and Lavender Town got a little bit darker.

“ALSO!” Tabitha shouted out the window before racing off, “I’M SOBER!” Taking a deep breath, he headed for the bridge at the edge of the town -
- And then someone slammed the brakes for him.

“No,” Tabitha groaned at Maxie, squished against the dashboard, “I’m actually sober... “

“...Look.”

They’d stopped few feet from the back of a car, their headlights casting a silhouette on the scene in front of them. The bridge they’d just driven onto was blocked completely, not just by a disgruntled local...but two others, too.

“Sorry, just a routine check,” the man could be heard saying. His colleague stood nearby, probably jotting down their license plate.
“I don’t have anything in my car - “ the driver snapped in reply, before being interrupted by a tinny, pleading, pre-recorded Marowak screech. No response.
“...What?” he murmured, checking his back seat on instinct (prompting Tabitha to as well) - “Ohh. I see, this is about the Pokemon smuggling...”
“Yes, it is,” the officer explained, “We’ve had a lot of Cubone smuggling coming through this area lately, so we’re just making sure there aren’t any Pokemon in the back…”

“Ohh,” Courtney mumbled, “We’re fine.”

“You’re fine,” said the officer, before starting to mutter quietly - “Achh, who does the International Police want this time?...”
“Giovanni Aurum…some guy who’s using the name ‘Richard Grant…’”

“Can I see an ID? Driver’s license?” the officer questioned.

“Well, shit.”

Immediately, Tabitha accelerated into reverse, throwing Courtney and Maxie back against their seats - the van lurched over the back of the bridge and landed with a crunch on the gravel road behind, scattering rocks and birds alike -

Only then, the police officer turned around.
He squinted a little.

“Oh, now you’ve done it,” Maxie hissed.
“Do you want to try driving?”

The two of them took a deep breath each, and returned to looking not suspicious at all.
“Right. I don’t think he noticed us,” Maxie advised quietly, “Take it slow, and we should be able to get back in town without a problem.”
Tabitha inched back, just a tiny bit, as soon as the officer picked up his pen.

“A little bit at a time. I see.”
Another inch.
“Anyway, I’ll keep an eye on the police officers - “

“NOW!” Courtney snapped as soon as the man turned back around - the van lurched backwards again at top speed. This time, it slammed into a small pile of bushes and out again, dragging leaves and vines with it with a sickening rrrrip - past the river, past the hills, past the sign which said ‘one way’, all the way back into the little town.
Did the officer notice? There was no way to tell - they’d come to a stop behind a cluster of trees, and quite frankly they didn’t care.

Well, Tabitha didn’t care at least.
He looked out the window, hoping for a breath of fresh air. The dust was settling on the sidewalk; the terrified Kricketots started their chirp again. Surprisingly, no-one had come out into the night to see what on earth that ruckus was.

Apart from someone very, very familiar, just across the street.

“Heeeeey... Mister ‘I’m Sober’,” the six-foot tall shopkeeper drawled.

Archie and Shelly found it...strange that the porter insisted on taking their bags as soon as they stepped inside. Maybe it was company policy, maybe it was her Mightyena.

The Spirit-Z Hotel lived up to its futuristic name and shone with a little too much chrome. The stairs even had a little bit of it peeling off; they’d painted the railings gold in the past.
And, of course, the pen he signed his name with at the reception? Shaped exactly like a Spritzee, plastic feathers and all.
“Are you sure you don’t want to upgrade that to a suite?”
“Nope,” all three travellers said after another
“Alright, we’ll get your bags up in a moment…” said the attendant, handing over the keys and smiling brightly - “in the meantime, you can check out your room!” she continued, watching her customers go straight back into the crowd and head for the stairs.

Calmly, she gave a signal to the porter.

Halfway up the stairs, Shelly tapped Archie on the shoulder and directed his attention to the back of the counter; a few metres above now, they could see what was happening clearly. The receptionist, the porter, and...probably the manager stood clustered around their luggage.

“They’re doing random checks?” Shelly whispered, “Well...probably not random, but still…”
“Yeah, looks like it,” Archie replied quickly. A pit in his stomach was starting to open up as he watched the contents of their bags spill onto the floor...

The gleaming white bottle of fuel sticking out of the pile was what caught their eye. Everyone’s eye, actually. The porter pulled it out and lay it on the floor, then...another, and another, and another…
They inspected the labels, the little warnings that said the fuel was flammable - ‘course it was flammable - and how easy it was to get the screw caps off. Shelly waited with bated breath, waiting for when they found the matching stove -
Only to remember that they wouldn’t.

Archie took Shelly’s hand, tried to give her a reassuring nod. As the porter kept pulling out coats and fake mustaches and beanies like cloths out of a magician’s hat - their expression changed.
“Where’s the uniform?” one of them commented loud enough to hear, “The one with the ‘R’?”
“I just have a bad feeling about these guys, you saw the dog…”
“Check further. Then, get a police officer, just in case - “
Everything went back in the bag, shoved in hastily, like a child trying to hide something from their mother - except both parties were equally scared.

...Perhaps, in the owner’s case, less scared and more interested.

“Let’s go,” Archie said, slowly backing up the stairs, “I think they’re done…”
Shelly bolted - so did he.

They all... eventually got their bags back. Took the porter a good while to get up to their room, though. They’d spent a good 10 minutes waiting, and waiting until they finally heard a knock on the door. The time was...mostly spent talking. Archie and Shelly said they both had a solution in mind, and it’d only take a minute. Maybe a couple.
Matt... looked convinced.

So, when the time came and someone knocked on the door, Archie moved Matt out of the way, shifting his hand so he could open the door in his place -
The little man in the corridor smiled.

“At your service,” he said, before Shelly pushed through Archie and Matt - and started to speak.

“Hey, about the stuff in our bags…” she began, trying to somehow sound even more genuine than she already was - “I just wanted to explain why they’re there, as well as the weird clothes.”
The porter jumped.

“...What fuel?” he said, once he’d composed himself.

“You know, the little while bottles?” she repeated, “The ones you found in our luggage.”
“...I don’t remember any little while bottles. And I don’t remember searching through your luggage either - “

“Is that the same guy?...” Matt questioned quietly, “Maybe they...er...haven’t told everyone ... “
“It’s definitely the same,” Archie replied, “I remember the beard.”
“They had a little logo with a mountain on it,” Shelly continued to describe, “And I think they had Silver Camping Supplies stamped on them…”
“Nope,” the porter muttered.
“They were, like right at the top of my bag - “
“Don’t remember them.”

“Oh for...look, even if you’re not the one that searched them - tell whoever did they’re for cooking,” she finished, getting close to snapping - “You know...for stoves? Campfires?”

“No, I don’t think I know what you’re talking about…”
Shelly’s mouth hung open, as the porter slipped out into the corridor.
“The cleaning lady will be over in ten minutes,” he said while he did -
“ WAIT! ”

But he didn’t ‘wait’, and Shelly stood defeated in front of nobody.

“Sorry, we try not to clean when the guests are in the rooms, but things keep piling up! - “ the porter finished, retreating and slamming the door...leaving Archie, Shelly and Matt with what could become Evidence A. Evidence A, in a court full of trigger-happy hotel owners, and the police officers that’d know their faces off by heart.

The car’s interior rattled loudly, as Maxie heaved something metallic out of his bag - it was linked securely to a power bank, and every black sheen on every part glittered under the street lights. He turned it on with a gentle whirr, and a little screen on the top faded to white, cleanly - the machine was good as new.

“You...brought a printer,” Courtney questioned, “...on a road trip?”

“It’s for the fake ID’s we’ll have to make!” Maxie explained, “We’re going to be out here for a while, and I thought we should make around...10 or so different ones before we, er...head off properly .”
“Good plan.”
“And no, don’t worry, I didn’t take our old one,” he finished.
“Ohhhh, thank god, ” Tabitha muttered sarcastically, “I was wondering if the printer about a thousand kilometres away right now is still there.” He took a back seat as Courtney rummaged through her bag, a little glow in her face.

“Look at it,” Maxie continued, after pausing a little, “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, and it looks like…” Courtney said, inspecting all the cartridges, “...yeah, we’ve got everything we need to make a pretty authentic driver’s license - well, if you give me a couple of hours...” She opened up her laptop and tried to find the closest drawing program, one that didn’t have cute drawings of Numels and apocalypse-themed shading studies already open.

“ Pretty authentic?” Tabitha questioned, quietly.
“We’ll work out what we can’t fake as we go along,” she assured him, grinning.

Maxie resisted the urge to object this time, and took the driver’s seat back. Sighing, he kicked his feet back on the wheel, feet just a few inches away from the horn. Tabitha hauled himself into the shotgun seat too, with a handful of fresh-ish sushi to offer to everyone - Maxie took everything teriyaki, Tabitha took the Octillery balls, and Courtney took the little plastic fish.
“Can I ask...” Maxie asked Tabitha, chuckling a little…”What exactly - ahem - drove you to reverse straight off of the bridge at top speed like that?”

“Don’t know, honestly.”
“Oh.”

Tabitha shifted around in his seat to face Maxie, hoping to get all of his attention.
“Fine, maybe it was a bad idea,” he admitted, after taking a few seconds to get his words together, “And it’s not like that’s my go-to plan for getting away from the police…”
He paused after a quick chuckle, wondering if Maxie would take this well.

“...It’s like I was on autopilot. It’s like I haven’t gotten the time to, like, think properly and get a plan in order, in my head, since we left everything back in Hoenn. And eventually I just have to go for whatever comes to mind first, a lot of the time.”

“Sorry,” he finished, quietly.

“That’s normal,” Courtney commented, before continuing with her work as Tabitha sighed, thinking that he’d made his point. He stopped the car on a back road, right on the edges of the town.
“Well, that’s...good to know,” he replied.
“Thankyou for explaining,” Maxie reassured him, “Let me know next time if you’re feeling like that. Perhaps...I could take over?...Or you could talk a plan through with me?”

Tabitha nodded, slowly, and pulled a throw blanket over himself. He turned away, burying himself a little in the nook below the dashboard.
“Hey, Maxie?” Courtney asked, leaning back from her laptop and clicking her strained back - “Pass me back one of those bags.”
“Anything particular you need?”
“No, the lighting’s really bad,” she explained, taking the backpack she was passed and pressing it against the window, “I wanna make sure these ID’s come out the right colour…”

Curious, Maxie leaned out of the car window, expecting to see a white streetlight - and see a light he did, on a street a few blocks away. It was pointed down an alleyway - and more importantly it was terribly bright, bright enough to make it hard to see a screen. Whatever it was, it was at street level, around the same height as a parked car’s lights, which made sense.

Curiosity satisfied, he was going to duck inside the van and get ready to fall asleep -

...And then the light moved.

Chapter Text

The thing with Evidence A’s is that someone needs to explain them. You can’t just tell an officer over the phone you found a fake beard, some fuel, and some clothes - and that’s why three travellers were planning to set a nearby building on fire.
There are a thousand and one reasons to have a fake beard, and Archie and Co’ only needed one.

The first idea that Matt had was to get everyone in the clothes they were supposed to use as ‘disguises’ - whether that be Sinnoh coats, Johto jackets or Kanto jeans, and leave a few others out for effect on the beds or on the bags. They were fashion designers, or going to the nearest expensive gala to show off their suits, yes. Archie was now decked out in a bright coat, sweater, boots…

...A certain comparison could be made, but no-one wanted to make it.

“What about the fake beards?” Matt questioned.
“Oooooh,” Archie sighed, frustrated, “We could...put them on you. And say you’re self-conscious about your lack of beard…? No. That won’t work.”
“...Yeah, because I have a beard!”
“Sorry - sorry - just spitballing ideas here - “
“I might have an idea,” Shelly piped up, as she took a PokeBall from her pocket, “But...are we going to use the beards again?”
“Hmm...”
“Nooope,” Archie replied, “I’ve been doing some thinking, and maybe shaving will be enough…”
“Good.”

“...Oh,” Matt whispered, as Shelly got out her Pokeball and tossed it to the ground.
A few minutes and a fair bit of dog-wrangling later, Shelly’s Mightyena was decked out in full beard, mustache, and a hat, looking like the best in show. In between barks, it tried to lick the faux fur - but to no avail. (Shelly still petted their back for their good-ish behavior.)
“I reckon they could pass for a contest dog! - “
“I thought they were already…” Archie commented as he tied a fancy-ish pink ribbon from Shelly’s bag onto his suit.

“Now,” he continued, trying to tear himself away from the dapper little canine, “What about the fuel? What do we do about that? I could - “

“That’s easier,” Matt replied, inspecting the white bottles, “We can get the cleaning lady to throw those out no problem, it’d make more sense than the clothes…”
“Once we’ve done that, we sleep here, check out in the morning just to complete the whole ‘we’re perfectly misunderstood travellers that just got mistaken for Rocket members’ thing…”
“And now we know there’s an...uh…’evil team’ scare going on,” Archie added, “We can say goodbye to hotels.”

“That...sounded slightly more optimistic in my head,” he finished. Matt nodded, however slowly, wondering why Archie wanted a drink all of a sudden...

“Here’s the kicker, though!” they announced, holding up an empty water bottle… “We don’t even have to lose the fuel.”

“Oh?”
“Ohhh, I see!”
“We pour it all into this. Now, we don’t even have to worry about picking up what we lost, and if we pull this off - “ he continued, talking faster and with more energy than he’d done for a while, “ - we can waltz out of here like absolutely nothing happened!”
Shelly and Matt’s eyes opened wide as Archie did exactly that - transferring the fuel into the inconspicuous bottle of ‘Seafoam Water’...
And it was perfectly clear.

“Clever, eh?” he muttered to himself, “So now we’re - “

Knock, knock.
“We’re…”
Without a chance to say ‘come in, and with his back turned and bottle halfway into the bag, Archie heard the door open.

Shelly, Archie, and Matt snapped to attention - in front of them stood a bemused old woman, with a sparkling new mop, cleaning cart...and holding a sturdy walkie talkie straight out of a military base.

“Well, they look a bit annoyed I came early,” she reported into it, “Not like in the ‘raah, I’m gonna fight you’ kind of way, though.”

Archie gave Matt a hopeful grin.
“Also, their dog’s wearing a mustache and they look...weird. Yeah, I think they’re co-ordinators, actually?”
...and Shelly a wink.

There seemed to be a loud sigh of relief coming through the little speaker, and then a lot of angry chattering from someone else entirely -

“Ohhh, you want me to check them more than that? You’d better add this onto my paycheck, but okay, okay - no, I’m not going to say ‘over!” she snapped, before turning off her walkie talkie and turning to her audience...
“‘Ello, there,” she said calmly, as though absolutely nothing had happened.

“Everyone, I have...news.”

Tabitha and Courtney looked around at Maxie, both with the same slightly annoyed expression on their face.
“Don’t panic.”
“Oh, GOD - “
“I said, don’t panic! ”

“Well?” Courtney questioned -
“Someone’s checking the town,” Maxie explained, struggling with the door handle, “And they’re quite close. And they probably know our license plate. And it’s the same policeman from before so they probably know what our faces look like - “
“Ohhh no,” Tabitha gasped, hand over his mouth, “What do we do? Hide - “
“ Yes!”   Maxie snapped , “Exactly, that’s exactly what we do ” He immediately left the van and slammed the door, with Tabitha and Courtney following behind, both of them crowding around him and ducking behind the only cover they had.

Maxie - he took stock of what he had to work with. He had one side-of-the-road carpark, the only free one he could find, one campervan that was very conspicuous, very noticeable - it even had a little vine sticking out the back to make it recognisable, however tiny it actually was. If you saw it - you’d know it. Oh, and one of those license plates that lit up when you shone a torch on it -

The torch itself was just visible in between the streets sometimes, casting long shadows where it hit the garbage people had left on the pavement. It seemed to have moved on from here, but where to exactly?

And - and there was the forest behind them, bordering the whole small town. Filled with thin pine trees with a wide enough gap between them to run through without having to slow down, or god forbid trip over -
“Well, I - I don’t know if we can leave the car,” Courtney suggested quietly, also looking off into the night, “We’d be on foot. That’s how all criminals eventually get caught…”

“So we can’t go into the forest, we can’t go into town,” Tabitha concluded, leading everyone around to the back of the van and crouching down, “And we can’t drive off the way we were going because there’s gonna be a guy back there. Either way, we’re - I - “
“What are you looking at me for?” he snapped at Courtney who was looking more concerned now, “ I can’t think of anything! ”
Maxie took that as an invitation.

“First of all,” he instructed, “we mustn’t give up. We will be able to do something , after all, it’s just one policeman who has no clue we’re who we are.”
“I...I’m listening.”

“Well!...” Maxie concluded, “Well, if we’re going to hide, we’ll do it the traditional way!”
“The traditional? - “ Tabitha began, before shutting himself up.
“Both of you,” he instructed, half-running back to the van and shutting himself in the driver’s seat, “Get as many bushes and leaves and branches as you can find. In the meantime...I’ll get the car in position!”

The pair of them watched as their only hiding spot coughed its engine clear, revved into gear...and reversed into the trees with a light crunch.

“Well, then,” said Courtney.

“You might want to - “
Another crunch as the van kept going.
“You might want to stop right about now!” Courtney called out, “We, uh...can’t really see you!”
“ THAT’S THE POINT! ” Maxie cried, going even further before finally bringing the van to a halt.

Immediately, Tabitha ran off into the darkness for the nearest ivy bed and started pulling it away from the trees, the rocks, the dirt - he tugged it free quickly, passing Courtney on the way -
She’d been grabbing broken sticks and leaves from a nearby felled tree, and was on her way to take another bit of rotten tree - that definitely wouldn’t let any light through, she thought, that’ll be for the license plate…
“Hey,” Tabitha said, “Don’t worry about taking too much, we’ll come back for that.”
Courtney nodded, a little relieved. Meanwhile, still in the driver’s seat, Maxie watched a shower of wet leaves cover the windshield.
“How’s this?” Courtney asked, spreading them around a bit -
“Good, good!” he reassured her, stepping out of the car…”May need a little more coverage.”
“What’s the kind of time we’re working with?” Tabitha asked, throwing the ivy over the front of the van and immediately running off for more.

“Er…”

He stepped out into the woods again and checked the town - or what he could see of it anyway - for any signs of light, or life, but he could find absolutely nothing. Not a sliver of white.

“Around...five minutes,” he concluded, “Yes, five minutes.”
“Five?”
“We’re going to need our Pokemon for this,” Maxie advised.

Throwing his Pokeball onto the forest floor, Maxie gave Skitters the order to ‘shush’ and then the order to get the largest bush they could - scattering leaves and branches, the bat flew away into the night while his trainer stood guard. Tabitha and Courtney had to duck while they ran back with even more rotten wood to stack in front of the license plate…

And slowly, leaf by leaf, bush by bush, the van disappeared into the forest.

Finally, Courtney came back to the van for the last time with a little branch to stick by the window - and a very satisfied Skitters, hauling two bushes the size of a large tent. Exhausted, she sat down on the forest floor, right next to Maxie.
He snapped his fingers, and Skitters deployed bush number one.
“You know,” he said, “We should make our Pokemon do more disguise work.”
“Mm,” Courtney replied, “Like - “

She tapped Maxie on the shoulder, and directed his attention to a forest that had completely disappeared. The trees melted into the fog, the rolls and dips of the landscape were blended together like wet paint, leaving only the most basic shapes visible - and one of those shapes moved towards them.
Tabitha himself stepped out of the rolling mist, with a very pleased-looking Koffing on his right arm.
“Like that!” she finished.
“A full-power Clear Smog, works every time,” Tabitha explained, “Completely opaque, completely odorless, and whatever colour you like!”
“Oh!... Fantastic!” Maxie exclaimed, getting up and walking straight into Tabitha before turning around and getting in the driver’s seat, “Now, everyone, back in the van.” He slammed the door on Skitters just after he dropped the second huge bush, and with a single piece of gas-station sushi and a ‘shoo’, got him to stop hanging around the car.

So, as the clear smog spread across the forest, all three lost whatever little visibility they already had, while they waited inside their little shelter. They were in darkness, complete darkness.

(Maxie, as everyone sat down...felt a jolt.)

“Can I...ask a question?” Courtney piped up, leaning forward to get a better view.
“Yes?” he replied, “ - By the way, keep your voice down.”
“Er…” she whispered,”...At - At what point do we get out and run?”

Though they had barely any visibility, they could still see light through the gaps in the leaves. And what they could see what a faint, shapeless white glow moving through the night.

“When they touch the van...you run.”

“You know, you can always mosey down to the gym, once I’m done with the bit around the front door…” the cleaning lady offered her clients, who had been standing around awkwardly in the centre of the room for a relatively long time.

“No!”
“We’re fine!”
“Wouldn’t want to make you feel unwelcome!” Archie finished, taking a seat and keeping his feet off the newly mopped floor.
“Ahh, that’s nice,” said the lady, before wriggling under one of the beds - “My name’s Natalie, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Natalie! I’m...Sebastian.”
“‘Thought you were Dylan,” she could be heard mumbling.

So far, Natalie hadn’t glanced into any of the bags, or taken more than a surprised first look at the mustached dog...she looked up and down their outfits, and she seemed to approve - not in the aesthetic sense, mind you, but more of the fact that these coordinators could be given a talking-to by the fashion police, rather than the actual police.
“Are you guys going to a contest?” she asked casually, after pulling out a suspicious piece of plastic from under the bed, “...Just a wild guess.”

“Well - “ Shelly began…
(How fast could she make a cover story? A backstory, even?)
“...Yeah, we are! It’s my first one, and I’m pretty excited.”
(No need.)

“Ohh, that’s lovely,” Natalie replied, coming back out with a bundle of dust bunnies and a suspicious piece of rubber - “...Knock ‘em dead. Now then, I’ll just head into the kitchen and you can...put your dog’s moustache back on.” She motioned towards the Mightyena, who was flicking the little strip of hair across the floor.
“HEY!” she snapped quietly, “Naughty! Let that thing go - “
“Don’t worry about it,” Archie said to her, “She believes us,” he continued in a low whisper...before grabbing the empty bottles of fuel beside his bag. Damn it, if his arms were big enough to carry half of Matt, he could carry all of these over in one go.

“Natalie!” Archie called, following the trail of the wet mop into the tiny kitchen, “I’ve got something for you, if you have a moment...”
“Hm?...” Her face lit up.
“Here,” he said, holding out an armful of empty bottles, “These...wouldn’t fit in the trash, so would you mind if I put them in your bag?”

“I suppose so…” She took them, turned them over in her hands a little - and recognised them. Little, white, and dangerous-looking , she remembered her manager tell her beforehand, though the last one was a bit subjective.
“They’re empty. Not...flammable or anything,” Archie commented in a low voice.
“Well, unless any of you are planning to throw out a cigarette…” she replied, dumping all of them into the rubbish…”I think we’re good.”

“And, uh, let’s see what I can get you for a tip…”
“Hah! Wait ‘till I’m done first, you silly goose.”
“Well, if there’s anything you need,” Archie invited, “just holler.”

She leant on her mop and sprayed some air freshener into the bathroom, casually as ever - before remembering her job wasn’t done and walking in there. Her cart was empty; a whole hotel had been sprayed with duck and had been scrubbed down with enough water to supply a whole island, and these three were the last ones to get the privilege of a Mrs. Natalie washdown…
“Natalie,” said the voice over the walkie-talkie, “any news on the fue - “
“It’s gone, they trashed it. Now, hush.”
(In the bathroom, Natalie realised the mop bucket was completely dry.)

Archie left with a smile, to show Matt and Shelly that the plan had worked.

(Bit of a design flaw, she thought, to have none of the buckets fit under the taps. Would they get confused and unnerved if they heard her turning on the shower instead? Probably.)

Not quite ready to break his cover, he just gave them a thumbs up.

“HEY!” came a voice from the kitchen, “Sebastian?... Dylan! Mind if I borrow some supplies? I’m kind of running on empty here...”
“Sure,” Archie shouted back, “What is it?...”
“Oh, just your bottle of water, I’ll fill it right back up…”
“Er - “

Then it hit him.

“WAIT!”
Archie rushed into the kitchen, knocking the cart to the side and waking up the guests next-door - but it was a few seconds too late.
The cleaning lady unscrewed the cap. And of course, she paused before pouring it on the floor, a little concerned by the very startled-looking man standing in the door.
Even without looking, she could tell something was off. Very off.
Yes, the stove fuel looked exactly like water, flowed exactly like water, and fit into a two litre bottle of water…

But it certainly didn’t smell like water.
Natalie sniffed the bottle once she noticed the harsh scent, and sniffed it again when she remembered what the manager told her about the guests supposedly having ‘explosive chemicals’ and a disguise. She was about to sniff it again, but realised that getting more dizzy would not be a good idea.

“That’s, uh...vodka,” said a voice behind her.

The cleaning lady screwed the cap back on, and almost threw it on the counter, but...with her curiosity getting the better of her, she picked it up and took a deep breath.

“Hmm, yes,” she observed, putting on a fake French accent, “Yes, you’re right, I can certainly smell the fruity notes and earthy tones in this one. You are truly a man of class, Sebastian.”
“Isn’t that...wine - “
“I’m joking,” Natalie snapped, tossing it across the table, “This is the bad kind of vodka, I can tell. I haven’t even tasted it. Do not drink. ”

“Er...yeah, I was thinking I’ve been ripped off...” Archie answered meekly, immediately shoving the bottle in whatever bag was nearby, “Anyway, thankyou for your service, and...judgment of my drink, I suppose…”
Natalie tugged her cart in silence through the hotel room, all eyes on her.
“There’s a tip on the table, by the way!”

She snatched the fifty dollar note and smiled while she opened the door and left for good - “Thankyou very much!” she cooed, almost a little excited and giggly for the first time since she’d arrived. Leaving the final room behind, the elevator invited her in…

“I think she bought it,” Matt commented.
Archie didn’t quite know what to say, other than the fact he did a very good impression of someone that had never drunk alcohol in his life.

He collapsed onto the double bed, just as exhausted as if he’d actually had to make a break for it, with a tremble in his hands that was starting to show. Taking a deep breath, he took the bottle that had almost brought the police to this hotel, and zipped it neatly inside his bag.
(The acrid smell was obvious to him now. At least, from up close it was obvious.)
“Well,” Shelly said, yawning, tucking her bags under the table and wrapping herself up in the covers of her bed, “I’m going to try and sleep -”
“...Same,” Matt replied, “May as well not keep everyone else up.”
“Hey,” Archie asked them both, “Are we good to wake up at six?”
“I mean, hell no,” Matt chuckled, “but...go ahead.”
“Six-thirty?” Shelly suggested -
“Sounds good,” Archie confirmed, setting an alarm on his phone, “Good night.”
(Honestly, no matter how good a song he picked, he would likely hate it.)

“And good job, everyone...” he could be heard telling the quiet room. Lying closest to the switch, it was his responsibility to turn the lights off…
He could still see, though.

Quietly, he took a Pokeball from the bedside table and rested it in his hand. He turned it over towards the light and made out which sticker he’d put on the top - a little purple flower petal, scratched a little with time and use.
His own Crobat hadn’t come out of this ball since he’d left Hoenn.
Aspen must be lonely in there, he thought.

There was a little nook beside the door, which would have been perfect to use as a place to have a guard Pokemon, just in case someone did come in, just in case someone did think his excuse was more than a little off.
If Maxie had done it back when they shared - well, sort of shared a hotel room, then maybe it would work for him as well.
Especially considering his dear Aspen was a lot more obedient than Skitters always was.

They probably would have gotten the idea, if he released them right here, right now, and pointed to where he wanted them to go, but…

Was it actually necessary?

As quietly as he’d retrieved it, Archie returned the Pokeball to its position on the dresser. They were safe, as long as his eyes were open, and once they weren’t...He may as well not worry.
After thinking about it, he realised there was nothing more he wanted right now, than to get up, leave, go next door, knock until they opened up...
And say, to whoever opened the door - “Hey, we’re three escaped criminals from Hoenn. You know, the ones that tried to wake up that big ocean-creating fish, and failed? I think the police are after us, the hotel owners think we’re Rocket members…”

“...Help me.”

But Archie could only chuckle at his own imagined conversation, and turn away from the door, the corridor, away from the golden light that trickled under it...try to slip asleep.

Try.

Meanwhile, in the little glass elevator, Melanie had the walkie-talkie pressed to her head while she looked out on the stars, and the city skyline. It had just lit up for the night, and she was looking forward to leaving this place, for good.

“You seem very enthusiastic all of a sudden…” the manager commented.
“Ohhh, it must be the ‘vodka!’” she explained, before falling into another quiet fit of laughter, “Or should I say…”
“Hm?”

“...The petrol?”

Night-time streets all looked the same, eventually. There were only so many small markets and dusty real-estate offices you could put in one place before it became indistinguishable from somewhere on the other side of Kanto.
The officer off the bridge stalked the streets, following the light of his torch and nowhere else. Asphalt and faded paint crossed under his feet, but...the little flurry of leaves and scattered dirt looked off. Mostly because he was told that anything could look off if you tried hard enough.

“What are we looking for, exactly?...”
“We’re looking for, let’s see…” his colleague on the bridge told him over the phone, flipping some paper and clicking his pen, “a nondescript white van.”
“ Another one!? ”

Startled, a large Crobat flew out of the trees - taking a horde of little Zubats with it, to nest on the telephone lines in peace. Despite himself...the officer followed, far into the misty woods.
“Geoff, can you just...check the list of people the police are keepin’ an eye on at the moment again?”
“Because I’m just finishing up now, and I want to see if…”
He shivered.

“I wanna see if we should call in the big guns, y’know?”
“Hey, is this...because of that big bat that just flew over me?”
“...N-No.”

(In the van, almost everyone was ducked out of view, watching the faint dappled light carefully for any signs of movement, or, hopefully - for everything to go dark. Courtney had one hand on her laptop, and one hand on the car door handle. Tabitha...well, he was frozen in position under the dashboard. He couldn’t look up. He felt like he couldn’t speak, but he definitely wanted to.)

(Because almost everyone was ducked out of view.)
(Maxie, for some reason, was still upright, and not even staring out the window - no, he had his eyes fixed below the windshield. He did not appear to register Tabitha tugging at his leg, or furiously motioning for him to move.)

“Right,” said the voice from the phone, “We’ve got a bunch of people from...Kenny, are you in the woods right now?”
“Yes, yes, I am - “
Kenny cleared a ragged bush from his path - it looked like someone had uprooted it. And then...returned it to exactly where it was supposed to be. Kicking it aside, he continued.

“I guess that makes sense…See anything?”
“Not yet, no. There’s definitely been a bit of a ruckus here, but whoever did it isn’t around.”
“Alright. I’ll read off the names…”

Meanwhile, the torch-beam crossed the woods, startling bats and birds alike. Ahead, he could see barely anything other than faint outlines - maybe cliffs rose and fell, maybe there were dips in the landscape. Then, there was a strange hump at the edge of the woods, overlooking a slope, surrounded by bushes and what looked like twisted old trees.
Again, curiosity was about to get the better of him.

(Tabitha then reached up and tapped Maxie’s shoulder, once, twice, three times - )

(“Hey!” he snapped quietly, “What are you doing? Get down! ”)
(The light, the strong light was moving between the leaves again, shining directly in his eyes now - but Maxie could not move. He would not. Even a turn of the head might make his silhouette change a little, something a trained officer with nothing else to look at might notice - of course he would notice! And besides, if he shifted his foot from where it was right now…)

(That would be the end of their disguise.)

“We’re still looking for Giovanni, Petrel, Archer, yadda yadda yadda,” Geoff listed -
“Nope, it’s not them.”
Kenny stumbled into the fog, breathing in something thick and humid - though he couldn’t tell what. His sight? Gone. His sense of smell? Also gone.
“And we’re also getting something,” Geoff continued, “...from the Hoenn Police...”
“Hoo boy.”

(The disguise didn’t hide sound quite as well as it did the actual outline of their shelter. Which is why no-one in the little van made a sound when they heard their home region in a casual conversation. Of course, you could argue it could have been anyone that they were talking about - but...that never crossed Maxie’s mind.)

“Well, you remember Maxie and Archie, and their, uh…’admins?’ The ones who wanted less or more land or something.”
“Oh, my god.”

“They’re here, apparently. Both of them almost sank a bloody police boat on the way here, they did, and anyone finds ‘em here, the International Police are gonna get involved.”
“The Interpol? For those guys?”
“And here - here’s the kicker - “
“What?”
“They’re travelling together.”

Sighing, the tired young officer slumped against the nearest clump of bushes, waiting for Geoff to tell him the catch. The ‘but.’

(Maxie took Tabitha’s hand, and gripped it tightly.)

“Don’t believe everything you read, mate,” he snapped, getting up, walking away and laughing, “They’re not, have you seen them? In person?...One of them wanted absolutely no water because ‘people’ and the other one wanted to drown everyone because ‘to hell with people!’ I just can’t see it. They couldn’t decide on one thing together if their lives depended on it.)

(“Can you see them?” Tabitha whispered, “Are they...are they here?”)
(Maxie only had ‘absolutely no water’ picked out of the muffled conversation, in that voice - in that overly authoritarian, overly annunciated, overly snapped, spat kind of tone.)

(It was him.)

(They knew, didn’t they?)

(“Hey - ” Tabitha questioned, shaking his shoulder now, trying and trying to get some kind of response that wasn’t dead silence - “Maxie?”)

One last sweep of the woods; the light glittered off what looked like metal -
Or just shiny leaves. Beyond him was a little drop, a baby cliff, and then, presumably more woodland.

Then finally, the light went out.
“Geoff, go get my civvie clothes ready for me, will you?”
Kenny switched off his torch and walked away, sick of being able to see nothing through this heavy mist and watering eyes, sick of tripping over ivy and rocks - clearly, anything would be far more fun than stumbling around in the invisible, undriveable forest. It was ten-to-nine, for god’s sake. He deserved to be back at home or at the local bar, eating chips and gossiping about how stupid the rumors about Archie and Maxie were.
Unless someone was willing to destroy their car, they wouldn’t continue. And so, neither would he.

There was an old saying Geoff had told him; if you start seeing random trees and bushes and think they’re your suspect, it’s about time to go home.

(Unfortunately, Geoff had never come across the renowned bury-your-van-in-forest-materials technique before.)

“I’m checking out,” Kenny snapped, “Over.”
And he struggled away through the brush, with his focus firmly on the Little Grimer .

“I…”

“They’re gone?” Tabitha whispered, “They’re gone!” he cried a few seconds later, throwing his arms up in celebration, as far as you could in a tiny van - “Guys! We’re okay!”
“Good gracious, that was close…” Maxie sighed, laying on the steering wheel, “I didn’t think...I thought he would…”

Courtney was completely silent, but when she heard the other two happily chattering, chirping almost, she beamed from ear to ear.
“See, sometimes,” Tabitha said, after a long pause to gather himself again, “When you’re in a bind, you’ve gotta do as the Pokemon do and - and do whatever comes to mind first…”
“Oh, believe me, I think we were more cunning than that -” Maxie replied, “Don’t put yourself down, Tabby - in fact, you all did a fantastic job!”
“Did you see how close he was?” Tabitha continued, looking a little grave, “Like, if he’d gone a little bit further, he definitely would have seen us - “

“Well, it’s a good thing I parked the car so far into the woods, then,” said Maxie, who turned around to face everyone else -

And let go of the brake.

“DAMNIT, NO!”
Immediately, the van slid down the small hill with a crash and a bang and a crunch, uprooting bushes, scattering dirt, and severely startling the local wildlife. All three passengers’ heads hit the roof of the car with a bang, and this time, it was Maxie who was trying to hide as best he could - he couldn’t watch. Courtney ended up buried in bags and suitcases, and Tabitha was left hanging onto the dashboard like an unwilling participant on a rollercoaster, as the van hit bump, after bump, after bump…

Eventually, the ride came to an end. It only took around 10 seconds, but it took around twice as long for Maxie, Courtney and Tabitha to finally poke their heads out and observe the damage.

They lay at the bottom of a muddy slope, with only forest behind them. No roads, no signs, no tramping tracks...only the faint glow of some far-off streetlights.
The back of the van was buried in dirt. The front of the van was still caked in leaves. The wheels...well, they couldn’t tell the state of those, but it was probably pretty bad.

Tabitha slowly turned to Maxie - and he would have gestured to the massive dent they’d made in the hill, except Maxie had already buried his head in his arms. He mouthed... why?

“Told you so,” Courtney whispered, trying to break the tension.

Chapter Text

“One!”
“Two”
“THREE!”
“Don’t push NOW, push AFTER the three!”
“It’s not moving!”
“Something’s in the way, probably!”
“No...no, it is...”
“Just get it out of that little ditch!” Maxie advised, clearing out the mess of leaves burying the back wheels with a tentative little kick - “That’s all we need to do!”

For the last ten minutes, he, Tabitha, and Courtney had been trying to get the van in a driveable position - each time they tried to shove through the debris, the wheels slipped back down a moment later, and each time Tabitha pushed as hard as he could, Courtney was out of breath. (...And vice versa.) The van hadn’t slipped down onto flat ground - in fact it was still on the slope, held in place by the dirt it had pushed down with it.

Typical. Even they had already been shoved 7/8ths of the way downhill, the powers that be couldn’t completely commit.

So, Maxie kept kicking and digging at the little ditch they’d carved out of the forest with whatever he could find - a stick, a stone, the heel of his boot…
At least - at the very least - no-one could see him. If Archie were still here, he would be laughing his ass off at what kind of mess he’d gotten himself into.

Looking ahead, all Maxie could see was brush and scrub, with nary a clear path or hiking trail in sight - the ground, covered in puddles, dead leaves, and rocks that looked deceptively tyre-friendly stretched ahead of them, with what looked to be an enticing gap in the distance.
He’d already accepted that his precious red boots were going to be completely ruined by the time he got to the ‘safe place’, wherever that ended up being - as well as his coat, his socks, and what was left of his dignity.

Every now and then the outline of a car would dash through that gap like an animal ducking in and out of cover. ...Despite knowing much, much better, Maxie still felt indignant that not a single one had noticed them and stopped to help.

At least, at the very least , he and Archie wouldn’t be watching each other...do this kind of thing. It would only complicate things further.

“HEY!” Courtney called, “Maxie, you done?”

But then there were the people a few feet away.
Watching him stand there, tapping his foot and lost in thought.

“Hang on, I’m coming!”

Tabitha and Courtney made a space for Maxie at the back of the van rather quickly. He shuffled awkwardly up the slope around them, sliding down and landing in the gap between it and the van- he would have hit the back window face-first, if he didn’t fall back on the damp leaf cover a little.
“Right,” he declared, brushing himself down - “On the count of three. One!”
Tabitha braced himself - “Two!”
“THREE!” Courtney finished, slamming her shoulder into the back of the car with a loud thump - flimsy glass windows creaked as Tabitha gave them a hefty shove as well, and Maxie leapt against the metal back, digging his heels in and struggling to keep it in its place.

“...Did you leave the brakes on...by any chance?” Courtney asked flatly.
“Wh - No? ” Maxie croaked, straining a little.
The van wasn’t moving an inch - a stalemate between three people and dirt.
“That’s - that’s why we’re down here in the first place.”

Frustrated, Maxie let go, he kicked the back of the car, clang -

And like a startled animal, the van jumped away from his boot with a clatter, to land on the solid-ish ground beyond.

“Well,” Courtney mumbled, “...That answers the question.”

“Ahh,” Tabitha sighed, “I should’ve tried that...”
“You did well,” Maxie informed him, making his way downhill again and fixing the dent in his shoe, “Both of you did well, in fact… Hopefully we never have to do that again.”
...Yet, while everyone else got inside the van, Tabitha stayed.
The forest they’d slipped down from looked so inviting now, and the town above was probably completely safe. (If only, if only.) Gently, he tested the slope, watching it crumple beneath his shoe and the debris trickle downhill.
Of course a van couldn’t drive on a 60-degree angle, he reasoned, and left.

“Well,” Courtney questioned, pointing towards the far-away highway, “won’t we have to push it the rest of the…”
Maxie beckoned her casually into the driver’s seat - “Ah, we’re fine.”
“Oh. I see. ...I’m slow.”
“Fine?...” Tabitha questioned from the backseat, “I think - “
He trailed off before he could finish.

Leaping in front, Courtney tapped the brake and accelerator with her feet and gripped the steering wheel tightly. Her driving shift was supposed to be a few days ago, but then she got shunted back a fair distance, in favor of Archie, Matt and Shelly. She hadn’t been behind a wheel, not since she got her fancy hoverboard, but damn did she miss it.

(With her phone set to silent, she took a pretty picture of the dashboard and landscape - just before everyone got into their seats.)

“Hit it, Courtney,” she said to herself, and launched into the trees.

5:30 AM

“The Qwilfish swims alone, it thinks it’s got too many spines!”
“And the Wooper stays at the bottom ‘cause it can’t see what’s at the top!”
“You stay together in your shoal because you’re hurt all of the time - “
“You can swim away, but at some point...you have to - “

Archie slapped his phone off the table before it could finish the line.

“Urrrrrgh,” Matt groaned -
“Morning.”
“I thought we both hated this song,” Matt could only slowly mumble while he rose from bed.
“Yeah,” Archie replied with a mischievous grin, “That’s the one reason I chose it.”

“Mmmgh,” Shelly whimpered, “Er...is this when we’re supposed to go?
“Mmhm,” he told them, hopping out of bed and picking up his suitcases - “Let’s just...make this look like we have a flight to catch. If the hotel staff see us...just act natural.”
“Just act natural,” Matt replied, “Got it.”

5:37 AM

In the hotel corridor, a few steps next to the lift, Matt was struggling to fit behind a large potted palm tree without making it tip over.
“Look, I’m just making sure she doesn’t pay attention to - “
“Matt,” Shelly told him, “She’s looking at you.”

A cleaning lady with familiar-looking white hair wandered about in the corridor, looking for dust to sweep up. They ended up in front of the lift - and gave a curious look to the people that seemed to be waiting for it to arrive. As per company policy, she waved her hand and let the customers in first.

...And then immediately pressed the ‘open’ button.
“...Right.”
“Bro - “
Matt, inside the lift, casually slammed his hand into the ‘close’ button.
“One second - “
The other two stayed silent, only hearing the click-click-click as Matt tried to keep the gap between the doors as small as possible -

Until he noticed the lady passing a suitcase through the gap.
“Your luggage, sir?”

5:45 AM

While Matt and Archie scurried out a nearby backdoor with their bags, ducking their faces out of view of the security cameras on the ceiling, Shelly took a little detour to the cafe’s drinks machine.
(Coffee, hot chocolate, cold chocolate, water…)

“What are y’ doing?” Archie whispered, “I can pay for coffee later!”
“Hold on - “ Shelly told him, getting a single paper cup of tea, “We’ll need this later.”
“Uh - “
Archie accepted it, and hurried Shelly out the door - though not too fast, otherwise he felt the drink might fly out of the cup and onto the pavement.
“I...didn’t think you were much of a tea fan,” he questioned.
“Nah, I’m not.”

6:10 AM

The guard inside the gate wouldn’t let the bollards down, for some reason. The route leading out of Saffron City looked clear enough - it wasn’t like there was much traffic this early in the morning.
He stretched his hand out, wiggling his fingers expectantly.

“I thought the gates were free when you’re driving off peak…” Matt whispered to Archie, passing him a wad of cash anyway.
“Yeah,” Shelly replied to them both, while handing the guard the hot cup of tea, “They are.”
(Archie laid his hand on the car door, prepared to let the guard rummage through the boot, and prepared to flee into the alleys of Saffron City if - )
“Aaaaah,” the guard sighed, “Thankyou. You’ve no idea how early the guys higher up think people are gonna be driving.”

( - if he found anything quote-unquote ‘suspicious’, and if that did happen, he told himself, the car would not be worth it, no matter how expensive everything inside was - he wasn’t that kind of person...)

“Head on through,” he told them, lowering the bollards and waving them out.

(Oh.)

“Phew,” Archie sighed, audibly, once they were out and under the rising sun. The city’s boundaries disappeared behind them, abruptly cut off in favor of keeping this little mountain route intact. As Shelly took them away, the scent of a thousand different restaurants and smoke transitioned to grass and wind.
He opened the window, poked his head out. It calmed him. ...A little.

“So,” Shelly asked, “...Do you think the whole, uh…’Rocket Scare’ is just about done?” She set up the map on her phone, putting in directions to Cerulean City.
“‘Rocket Scare?’” Matt questioned, motioning to Archie who he thought would be just as confused.

“Well…” Shelly began, “Hm. It’s weird.”
“Go on,” Archie replied, leaning forward.
“So...someone just found out there’s been a smuggling ring operating around, uh...Lavender Town. Of course, it was Team Rocket, so they tried to shut up whoever found out. It was some 10-year-old kid, I heard; and now, long story short, the police keeping an eye on criminal activity in the whole of Kanto in case there’s more. Smuggling rings, attacks, whatever…”

“...Maybe the Interpol found out we’re in the city,” Archie suggested casually.
“No, that’s not it. They’d have caught us by now if they were looking for us, alright?” Shelly replied, “...Anyway, guess what Pokemon they were smuggling.”
“...Meowth? ...Abras?”
“ Cubones. ”

“Oh - oh my god,” Archie stammered, “That’s horrible…”
“‘Least we never kidnapped any orphans,” Matt commented, shrugging.
“At least, like, an eighth of our grunts didn’t have any parents, bro.”
“That’s not kidnapping! That’s what we did out of the goodness of our hearts!”
“That’s what all kidnappers say,” Archie replied in the voice of a gruff, deep-voiced, and over-dramatic detective - before having a short coughing fit.

“Anyway,” he continued, once he was done, “On...whether the scare’s over...well, I think we’re good if we don’t go into any, like, big stores with our bags.”
“You sure?” Shelly asked, cocking her head.

Staring ahead, she didn’t see his expression change.
For the...fourth time since yesterday, he remembered what he’d forgotten.

“Yes, I...saw someone get searched,” he started confessing, “Before we checked into the hotel, actually, while we were leaving that camping store.“

Conveniently forgotten.

“Really?” Matt gasped, in obvious surprise, hoping to fill the silence Shelly left.
“I thought it was nothing,” Archie stammered, “I - I thought it’d be better not to make a fuss over something that looked small, in case it wasn’t actually a problem - “
“In case it wasn’t actually a problem?...” Shelly repeated.

“Yeah, and...also, I didn’t want you two to worry.”

“...Right.” Shelly replied, bluntly.

“Look, next time,” she advised, “And this goes for both of you. If you find something that could come back and hurt us later, just tell everyone, when you see it, and we’ll try and find a solution. ‘If you see something, say something’ - as they say…”

Only Matt laughed heartily at that.

“Damnit.”
Courtney stared ahead at the second tiny birch tree that had lightly clunked against the front of the van.
“I was hoping to snap that in two…”

“Can’t we just...drive around it?” Tabitha asked her.
“I don’t think so,” Maxie replied, staring behind him at the first tiny birch tree that had lightly clunked against the back of the van, “I suppose we’ll just have to…”
He started fidgeting with the sleeve of his cuff, trying to get himself to concentrate.
“Think, Maximillian, think - “
“We have time,” Courtney stated, “...I don’t know how much...but we have time.”
“Actually! You know what?” Tabitha snapped -
“What?“ Maxie replied, “Say it - “
“Screw that one tree in particular!”

Maxie realised they were getting out a little too late, and before he could react, his admin was trying to tug the small tree out by the roots, kicking it over like a delinquent and terribly drawn sign for a school fundraiser -
“Rrgh!” he snapped, “ MOVE! ”
“ Hang on - ”
Tabitha looked up at Maxie, who didn’t look as surprised as he thought he’d be.
...Then, at the same time, both looked down at the bent and bruised tree.
And its roots, which were sticking out of the ground.

“Hang on,” Maxie repeated, “You might be...onto something.”
“You could...actually take that out of the ground and throw it aside, since someone might pass it off as a hungry Pokemon. Better than - oh, I don’t know, burning the forest down…”

“Pokemon, Pokemon...” Courtney echoed from the driver’s seat, getting out her Pokeball and tossing it onto the ground with a flick of her wrist -
“Come on out, Pom-pom.”
“ GAH! ”
“Oh?”
The little ball split in two; the energy inside grew shifted and twisted itself into the shape of a Camerupt, finally exploding in a shower of sparks and leaves...the camel roared, teasing out any cricks in the neck it had after spending so, so long unused.

“Right,” Maxie declared, gathering himself, “Courtney, you give him its orders!”
Silently, she stepped out of the van...and pointed.

“Hey, hey,” Tabitha continued, flicking the ball on his belt into his hand, “Let’s use all three Camerupt!”

In sync, he and Maxie tossed their Pokeballs further into the woods, shattering twigs and small branches with the surge of light-turned-Pokemon…
“Rockfall!” Tabitha cried -
The huge, stocky Camerupt with ash-tinged fur turned to face him. If you’d known Rockfall for as long as Tabitha had, you could read that it was ready; ready to burn something.
“Cinderbar!” Maxie followed, directing his smaller one to charge forward - it rose from the ground slowly, under the weight of the reddish-grey armor of rocks on its back…
But that, in no way, meant it was tired .

“Clear a path to the highway, that way,” both of them commanded, “ Any way you can!”
“Tear them out by the roots!”
“Flatten them to the ground!”
“Just...get rid of them.”
“GO!” all three cried in unison, watching their Camerupts enter the fray and roar with excitement...

...A minute later, Rockfall, Cinderbar and Pompeii were still chowing down on the first birchtree.

“I don’t know what I expected, honestly,” said Maxie.

In the end, all three had to walk behind their Camerupts, prodding them forward when they looked at a birch tree hungrily after they’d knocked it down. They moo-ed loudly to each other, seemingly in very deep, fulfilling conversation. A couple of times, Maxie would look back and notice they were veering off to the side, and have to gently guide his Camerupt back on the straight and narrow, hoping the other two would follow.

He had to admit, he never saw himself doing this - maybe that was why he wanted to turn around, get back in the van, stay in one place for a while, and not have to speak to either Tabitha or Courtney.
Well, of course you’re anxious, he reasoned with himself, you’re damp, covered in leaves, herding your Camerupt which won’t listen to you. It’ll pass. You’ll get over it.

“You know,” Courtney reminisced to nobody in particular, “...This reminds me of when I worked on the old Happiny farm, back in Sinnoh...”

“Oh - “ Maxie replied, quite surprised, “Really?”
“Yeah, they’d keep dropping their eggs...stones...whatever, and we’d have to wait for them to pick ‘em back up. Then, they’d always run just as fast as they did before...and drop them again. ...It never stopped being funny.”
“I suppose they wouldn’t know any better…”
“Yes, I suppose they wouldn’t…”

“Well, what excuse do these big lumps of fluff have?” Tabitha grumbled, throwing a broken birch tree aside before Rockfall could notice it, and continuing on.
“...I…” Maxie replied, “Hmm. Maybe they’re just…”
He stopped mid-sentence, partially because he wasn’t sure if the Camerupts actually were hungry, or if they were just bored, understimulated…
“Move, Rocky, MOVE!”

(How could he not tell by now?)

Maxie could be heard taking a deep breath.
“...Oh, I don’t know,” he began, “But, before we get onto the highway, I wanted to, er.. say something.”
“Go on,” Tabitha replied, still concentrating on his Camerupt and making sure it didn’t try and eat the suspicious-looking red berries.
“I...wanted to apologise.”

“Courtney, I admit that, yes, I think I did hear you while I was moving the van, and I get if you think I’m hypocritical for implying you were stupid, or something like that, Tabitha…”
Tabitha slowed a little, trying to stay level with Maxie now.
“It’s my fault for getting us here in the first place, anyhow...“
“Hey,” Tabitha interrupted, “I’m the one that drove us off the bridge, remember - “

“...Well,” Maxie replied, “This is - this is a different thing! And I’m taking responsibility for this thing! I - I promise that next time either of you tell me to stop, I will stop.”
“That’s…” Tabitha replied, “...good to hear.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered - “I’m sorry,” he repeated, this time loud enough for both of them to hear. He continued nudging his Camerupt along, though this time, a little gentler - and as he did, he noticed Tabitha herding his Rockfall closer, and closer.
It was only now that he noticed he’d been travelling furthest away from him.

“I think,” he finished, voice dropping very low, “We might, er... both have a problem with not... thinking things through.” He spoke slower now, procrastinating between every word, but Tabitha appreciated the effort.

“Ahh, good,” he replied, “We could form a group; ‘Dumbasses Anonymous’.”
“Pffft.”

“Hey,” Courtney cried, struggling to keep up with Pompeii, “I can see the highway!”
“Good, good!” Maxie called back, before turning back to Tabitha - “...Although, hopefully by the time we leave Kanto, we’ll both be more....competent.”
“Baby steps,” Tabitha assured him -
“Just baby steps?” Maxie questioned, laughing a little- “Heavens no. I’ll have the two of you swept out of this region in the...er, illegal equivalent of first-class, just you wait…”

Chapter Text

7:00 AM

In near-silence, Shelly drove the rest of the way to Cerulean City - a winding road passing through tunnels and forests, under a fading night sky. Archie pointed out a strange gap, or more a gash in the wall of trees that surrounded the road - and though he didn’t see it, he felt the car run over a scattered branch.
“Tauros, maybe?” Matt suggested… “Some really badly lost Tauros?”
“Tch, probably,” Archie replied, “I feel sorry for the poor guy that’s got to clean that up.”

The city in the distance looked like more of a gap in the trees than a towering cluster of skyscrapers. And the lights weren’t what gave it away -
“Do you think…” Matt mused, “...farmers can, like disown their Pokemon?”
It was the clear sparkling rivers, almost-waterfalls and creeks, that the road was built to cross over and show off to whoever needed to see it right now. Tourists, ideally.

“Maybe…”

They passed through what could be called a gate, but it just looked like a couple of stone pillars with ‘Welcome to Cerulean City’ written on a strip of blue fabric between them - the banner, fluttering in the light wind was stamped from top to bottom, with a rainbow painted handprints and pawprints alike.
Shelly didn’t bother taking them down the main road, instead leading them down meandering streets full of bike shops and dairies. The lights above, just about to turn off for the morning, shone on nobody. The workers slept, the guard-dogs slept, the birds slept…

And even Clearwater Park wasn’t awake.

“Here we are,” Shelly called out, as she parked the car under the shade of a pine tree - “Somewhere for us to rest.”
“Ahh, great…”
“Hold on, is this place free?” Matt asked, getting out and having a look around at what little signage and paths the park had. All that you had to work with was the dirt on the ground and a... slight lack of trees in the general area. But still...

“Perfect,” Archie gasped, looking out at the stretching forest beyond, “Just what you think of when you hear ‘relaxing holiday.’” he finished, chuckling to himself. He opened up the boot and began to drag out a gigantic cardboard box, the Dura-Brr Four-Person Easy-Setup Tent ...and just when he thought he couldn’t hold its weight any longer, he let it thump onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
“Oooh, neat - where are we gonna set that up?” Shelly asked, kneeling down beside it. Lightly, she traced the box’s advertising while Archie thought, and thought.

“Somewhere...out of the way,” he replied, locking the car and taking a gander across a nearby river…A quiet, silvery river with a barely visible rocky plateau on the other side.
“Not too close to the road, just in case…”
“Just in case?” Shelly muttered.
(Barely visible.)

He and Matt looked at each other with a glint in their eye.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, bro?”
“I think I’m thinking what you’re thinking.”

It’d been a while.

“How do you think you’re gonna get it across, though?” Shelly asked, shoving the huge box an inch closer to them with her foot as if to make a point.
It’d been a while since Archie and Matt worked in their element.
“Like this,” Matt answered -
In reply, both him and Archie tossed their Pokeballs into the flowing river. They flowed with it for a few seconds, before what at first looked like another pair of sparkling droplets grew and grew, shifted and changed - into the shapes of two huge Sharpedoes. They grinned widely, their teeth glinting - and invited a third Pokeball into the whirling spray. Two Sharpedoes was alright, three...a force to be reckoned with.

(Casually, Shelly took a photo of all three happy sharks...and pressed send.)

([ the boyes ] she added as a caption.)

Archie, Shelly and Matt all lifted the cardboard box into the Sharpedoes’ jaws, telling them all to bite down, keep the box above the water, and not destroy it too much . Shelly and Matt stepped back, let Archie continue working with the sharks. Both of them rushed back to the van, bringing back armfuls of boxes and backpacks and sleeping bags, ready for a day of quiet busywork.
The river...well, it was a throwable width.

“What do we do with the one that has the laptop?...” Matt asked, stopping halfway through throwing a black backpack.
“Just...throw it softer?” Shelly asked, before going to return a bag to the van, “Actually, come to think of it, we don’t need everything.”
“Ah, right, I’ll go put this back…”
“No, no, throw the laptop! I’m sure it’ll survive. ...I’m just saying we don’t need the CDs and the swimming togs, y’know?”

Both of them turned back around to see Archie launching himself into the river.

“Oh.”

In the gentle waters, it was no trouble for Archie to swim towards his struggling Sharpedo companions. The colder it was, the clearer it was, and, at least with this kind of river, Archie could deal with the cold - he opened his eyes and looked for a shadow on the surface, a sunshade for the fish that swam around him…
And aimed for it.

As quickly as he’d dived, Archie surfaced underneath the huge cardboard box, alongside the trio of Sharpedo. With his feet firmly planted on the river bottom, he started walking alongside them, carrying as much of the weight as they did. He had learned how to keep his balance in the shifting mud and current, and even if he did…

Well, he had faith in Sharpie and Co.

“You good, Archie?” Matt asked -
Then again, he couldn’t hear anyone else. He ducked underwater briefly; seeing if there were any roots to trip over -
...And resurfaced to find himself looking at the riverbank.
The Sharpedoes all remembered at once that they couldn’t walk on land, gave up, and scattered across the river - now that their work was done, they could hunt for fish!

Archie, unfortunately, had legs instead of fins.

“ BRO?! ”
“Don’t worry!” Archie replied, staggering sideways down the river, “I’ve got this,” he continued, attempting to throw the box into the grass, “Don’t sweat it,” he finished, finally pushing it onto the bank, but stumbling forward into the river himself.
Though he was soaked through, he still gave the two a thumbs up.

A while later, the whole crew had put their roots down on the other side of the river and set up the tent - it took a lot of straining and struggling, and it took around 10 minutes for them to realise one of the pegs was missing. Shelly improvised, and stabbed a sharp-looking stick into the ground where it was meant to - considering her work done for the morning, she retreated to the riverbank. She could be seen holding her phone, trying to get reception.

Meanwhile, Archie and Matt were tracing the web of a map of Kanto, trying to decide which road that spanned away from here would be the best one to take.
And yet, there were so few.
There was Lavender Town, but unless they wanted to mourn someone or something, that would only lead them to a dead end, in more ways than one. The route that led to the Light-Violet Range in the north never crossed over them, only spiralling around its slopes like the road was scared of the other side. Dots of seaside towns lined the edges of highways, all the way up to the Indigo Leauge, at the very corner of the map.

Not like they had the Pokemon or the nerve to challenge the Champion, whoever that was now.
But then there was the cut-off highway that led to the west, with a little arrow next to it that said ‘to Johto.’ Archie was hesitant to turn the map over to see what kind of catch there was, what would end up stopping them from up and leaving.

“Hey,” Matt asked, “Do you think the thing we did in the hotel worked ? As in...really worked?”

(It seemed like there wasn’t. That was what ‘open border’ meant, anyway.)

“Yeah, it worked,” Archie replied immediately, putting the map away and laying down on his sleeping bag…”That cleaning lady? She believed us. She thinks Shelly’s an aspiring co-ordinator and that I’m an alcoholic that sneaks vodka on a road trip. ...There’s four kinds of really honest people in the world, if you’re really honest with them. Little kids, people in crap jobs, people who are about to die, and old people.”
“The last two...they’re the same, though.“
“Dude, no! ”
Matt lay down next to him, and they stared at the blue canvas ceiling of the tent together, watching dappled light filter through it.

“The weird thing is…” he explained, pausing to get his words together, “I still - I still feel like someone’s gonna wake up this morning, think about what happened last night...and go, ‘hang on, that excuse made literally no sense. Let’s call the police after all!’”
“What would they even tell them?...” Archie proposed, “‘I found some weird guys in the hotel with a fake beard and camping supplies, the cleaning lady sniffed their vodka and she says it smells like fuel! ‘Well, Mr So-and-So, have you ever tried vodka?’ No, sir! ‘Then go buy some, and call us again when you’ve drunk it yourself!’”
“ Pfffhahahah !”
Archie laughed along with him; until he ran out of breath…
“Actually,” he commented, “I don’t know if I’ve ever had vodka. But - uh, yeah, you get what I’m saying, right?” Matt nodded.

Archie stared out the door of the tent, reminded of something again . Just at the corner of his vision, he could see the van; so far away and yet too close to them at the same time.

“Tell you what,” he said…
“Hm?”

“If by some chance, the police come and find us tonight, their lights’ll be on. We’ll see them coming, and by the time they break into the van we’re ‘sleeping’ in...we’ll be gone. We’ll get out of the tent, grab the food, and we’ll run for the hills, aaaaall the way up to Route 25.”
He motioned far away, into the space where the trees, the bushes and the rocks started blending into one another.

“And if worst comes to worst,” he suggested, motioning with a finger spread -  “we scatter.”

“...Scatter?” Matt repeated.

“Yeah, we’ll all, like...go off in different directions. So that they don’t catch all of us at once. At least one of you would manage to get away, and...who knows, they might focus on me...” he explained quietly, watching Matt slowly become more and more confused...
“...Um...Archie?”

“And then we meet in the morning!” he finished, holding up his phone, “That’s the plan.”

Matt was silent now, and yet...he still nodded. As always. But his mouth still hung open, in a way that said please say ‘as a last resort.’
“Hey, now, I wouldn’t leave you behind,” Archie assured him, pulling him into a tight hug, “I wouldn’t ever do that. That’s what I’ve always said...and just because we’re getting chased by the police doesn’t mean I’ll stop being here...if you want me to be here.”

Matt felt a hole in his chest open up.

Something reminded him, of the last time he had said something along these lines.
To several people, now that he thought about it. So many years ago.

If.

“You promise?” he whispered.
“Course I do,” Archie replied, “I won’t run away.”
Matt let the hug linger after that, probably because Archie didn’t want to let go of him. When he finally did, Archie gave him a smile, sincere however weak it was.

“Welp,” he said more casually, unzipping his bag, “I’m gonna go delete Mark’s data, I’ve been putting that off way too long.”
“Cool,” Matt replied, and left the tent to see what he could see...

Archie had taken their laptop out, and was busy having a look through the old itineraries and databases they used to have, back when they needed to check what grunt had done what, and who hadn’t. Meetings, schedules.
Mostly they were recorded as clearly and with as few words as possible, but then there were periods where the spreadsheet fell empty, with single words summarising what Archie had managed to do that day. Good, then - if there were no records, as far as the police were concerned, nothing had happened.
Unless Mark confessed to his crimes himself, when he was called in for questioning, but he had faith.
The text felt like a relic; a museum piece. Especially when it first loaded, at day one.

And by that, he meant the actual day one.

“Rally in Slateport City. Maxie & Courtney providing Camerupts for grunts to ride on.”
Ahh, those gentle giants. He missed them.
“Matt taking my place as leader during meetup with Maxie @ Chimney Cakeshop.”
Focus, focus, he told himself, you’re looking for Mark.
He looked for the option: Control + F.

“Discussed with Molly possibility of moving from Team Magma to Team Aqua. Request denied by Maxie.”
“Discussed with Matt possible re-merger or Team Aqua and Team Magma.”
“Discussed with [Mark] possibility of moving from Team Aqua to Team Magma. Request denied.”
No. No, not that.

“Grunts Stephen, Vincent, Isabel, and [Mark] collecting Devon Parts from Worker A during morning commute.”
Illegal activity. Deleted.
“Grunt [Mark] sent for interview with Devon executive. Bugged.”
Illegal activity. Deleted.
“Discussed with [Mark] possibility of moving from Team Aqua to Team Magma. Request denied, discussed possibility of leaving team.”

...Archie considered deleting that.
“Grunt [Mark] has stood down from Team Aqua. Possibility of return.”
...And that too.

He checked again, and again, to make sure every record of Mark doing anything bad was completely gone; and checked again to see if no-one else had accessed it.
God, he wished he’d put a handy little mark of “you’re doing something illegal” next to anything that was; then it would be much easier to delete all the evidence.
It would be so incredibly unfair to save only one person. Because he’d smiled. Because he’d shown that he had a life and hope outside of Team Aqua. Because someone loved him.

“Taking submarine to Seafloor Cave. Stage Two begins today.”
(He’d found the bottom.)

But for now, he couldn’t read it again - this biography, this play-by-play record of what had gone so wrong. He would go through it and clear it completely tomorrow, leaving just enough, the skeleton, the clean version, so that you couldn’t 100% prove it had been tampered with.

(Was Maxie keeping up his side of the deal, he wondered?)

7:00 AM

Courtney had chosen the back seat this time.

Maxie, after apologising, decided to do something else he’d been doing less of recently: getting some sleep. (Well, after he’d deleted Molly’s data, and driven them onto the freeway and set up an alarm system, of course.) That morning, he woke up and started driving immediately.

Courtney suspected he hadn’t slept at all.
He'd replaced every spreadsheet detailing what he'd done with a warning; a relatively quick job, not one to lose any sleep over.
"Team Magma is no more. Let the grunts go. I take sole responsibility for any and all crimes committed by grunts if caught. They did all this thinking it was good, and obeyed me."
That was what he'd written.

She’d been awoken in the early morning by him getting out of the van - she peered over the dashboard to see him taking the dew from the hood and splashing his face with it, in a vain attempt to stop this strange tremor that had come over him.
It didn’t work, but at least he could blame it on the cold now.

He had not, in fact, gotten over it. And every time he looked on this strange road, in this strange forest, in the middle of nowhere, he felt still more…
Of something. Something uncomfortable. But...he had already apologised for being irrational like he was being right now, he had already promised to take more responsibility, and that was that. This was responsibility. Reading Archie's name appear less and less and less in the journal he kept as time went on, until he read the exact time and date he changed 'Terra Project' to the 'Magma Project' - that was responsibility. Making himself read all of the seemingly insignificant things he did with him, the cafe trips, the Camerupt and Sharpedo training, the gifts, and reminding himself why he wasn't doing it now, even if 'Team Magma is no more' - 

That was responsibility.

Silently, he dried himself off and got back in the car.

Maxie said, when Courtney woke up, that they’d arrive there by morning. Wherever ‘there’ was.

“Now what? Do we just go back to where we were supposed to?” he asked himself.
“Nah!” Tabitha replied, “Let’s confuse ‘em!”
“Well, I’d hope the police haven’t been following us! Actually, you know what? I think I might...shake things up a little. If there’s one place the police would never expect the leader of Team Magma to go to, it’s the city of water!”
“Cerulean City?”
“Yes.”
Tabitha paused, and watched a sign whizz past him. He could faintly make out ‘Mt Moon Tourist Village’ on it before it panned out of sight.

“You’re just saying that ‘cause you missed the exit, aren’t you?”
“No - “ Maxie began…

“Fine, perhaps .”

While the two up front were arguing in good spirits, Courtney was tapping out a message on her silenced phone. On the highway, it wasn’t too easy to get carsick, and Courtney had at least some faith in her self-control…
But she still wanted to know why she’d been sent a picture of three Sharpedo. There must be a story behind that.

[ you up? ]

Far away in the Clearwater Park on the side of an unnamed river, Shelly finally got the message she’d been waiting around for. No, she couldn’t tell a lie…

[ you up? ]

Ever since Courtney told her about the incident with the cliff, she’d been slightly on edge.

[ oh, yeah! we just got to the park ]
[ archie faceplanted in a river sfksdkslkd ]
[ still stressed about yesterday but i think i’ll be fine ]
[ dw about it ]
[ how did you sort your thing out? ]

[ well we destroyed some of a forest haha ]

[ nice one ]

[ but don’t worry we did it with pokemon ]
[ it’s 100% environment friendly uwu ]

[ COURTNEY NOOOO ]

Courtney sent over her photo of the forest, taken back when she first bumped into it with her car. Looking back, the lighting was a bit...bad, but clearly, Shelly didn’t care.

[ before ]

And then...a photo of the Camerupts mowing it like grass.

[ after ]

[ i can’t believe you’ve done this. i want a divorce. ]

[ i refuse. divorce permission denied ]

It was in the seconds between Courtney’s replies that Shelly took another look at the second picture - strange as it was, something about it looked familiar. The birch trees, maybe, or the size of…
The strange gap, or more a gash in the wall of trees that surrounded the road -
She started to type, again.

[ hey quick question ]
[ did that come out onto a road that goes to cerulean city ]
[ where is it let me find the highway name ]

[ i think it did ]

Courtney tried even harder than she had to to hide her screen. She looked behind her, but wherever they’d popped out of the woods was far behind her -

[ DUDE ]
Her screen lit up quicker this time -

[ i think you’re going the same way as us!! ]
[ you’re going to cerulean city, right ]

[ yep ]
[ also oh my god you saw where we came out onto the road?? ]

[ its fine courtney ]

[ even archie thought it was a tauros herd BUT LIKE ]

[ WE’RE GONNA BE IN THE SAME CITY ]

Courtney looked at the text for a moment, trying to get what she meant, why she was so excited. A little smile spread across her face, and it was then she knew. She knew.

[ do you want to meet ]

Shelly paused.

The sun was rising now - they had the day. How much of it they had, she couldn’t tell, and even if she asked…
She’d likely not get a straight answer.

[ yeah ]
[ i just want to see if you’re all ok ]
[ it’d be a pity if the thing everyone had going up until a few days ago just ]
[ ...stopped ]
[ i don’t want to cut contact with everyone and ]
[ i want to talk about everything, buddy to buddy if you get what i’m saying ]
[ its just ]
[ so weirdly nice knowing that someone is running from the exact same problem you are ]

[ ...same ]
[ i miss you too. ]

At around the same time in the morning, the owner of the Spirit-Z hotel, and the man who’d been on the shift at Lavender bridge picked up the phone.

They didn’t call the police, no, no. That would be too forward. After all, what would they tell them? All they had was what they could recall of what the strangers looked like.

“Hello, is this the tip line?” they both said, as per script - “I have some information about, er...'Archie' and 'Maxie?' I don’t know if it’s much, but…”

“All information is important to us,” said the voice on the other end of the line, “Go on.”

Chapter Text

She left before mid-day, she said she’d be back by noon.
Which was just another, slightly more mundane way of saying she’d arrive in Clearwater Park at the ‘Right Time’ to up and leave.
They wouldn’t stop in one place for so long unless they were going to drive for a day straight afterwards, no.

Or two days. Or three.

Shelly, to anyone that was awake and looking on the streets, must have looked like one of those visitors you saw in stories - that you hadn’t ever seen in the suburb before, not in living memory... and yet somehow knew the streets off by heart. (Oh, and carried a large sack.) In reality, she was just taking all their clothes to the local laundromat.

The River Rinse. The quaint grey building, at the end of Pebble Crescent, with the bell at the window and the owner’s nice pet Meowth that... might still recognise her after all this time. What was its name - Bubbles? Goldie?...Snowball?...

She could take time to sit on her own. To think on her own.

At least, that’s how she explained it.

Honesty, she had said to Archie and Matt a few hours ago - and yet here she was, hauling a laundry-bag plumped up with her own decently clean clothes down the empty roads.

The thick bead curtain in front of the door rustled loudly as she came, waking up the little nameless cat. Quietly, weaved between her legs until she sat down - and even a little while after that. She shuffled over to the washing machine, letting it stay by her side as she pushed her spare change into the slot. You could swear the Meowth looked more excited every time a coin melodically clattered into the machine. (Ah, the look on its face was golden when she ‘accidentally’ dropped one on the floor.)

(Cats didn’t care who you were.)

And so...with no clue why this old visitor was there, the Meowth hopped up on the seat and waited alongside her, holding the gold coin tightly.

Why was the door so interesting to her?...thought the cat. Not wanting to deal with these existential questions anymore, they curled up and fell back to a long sleep, in the warm sunlight.

...At least one of them could ignore the ticking clock.

[hey courtney]
[i’m here]
[where you at?]

Someone else was also laying in the warm morning sun, though they were completely alone.

The Magma crew had arrived in Cerulean City just before the sunlight did; they would only linger around here ‘till lunch, and then they would be off. Maxie had been saying some things about ‘taking the Magikarp boat’ and ‘unregistered travel’...though, true to form, he’d been saying them mostly to himself.

(Courtney shifted towards the patch of light that could get into the van, yawning. It moved quite quickly now; she’d have to match the speed.)

Tabitha found one of those lodges, the ones that sold themselves as being made of wood and stone and fire alone - but inside was average as an untrained Rattata. He suggested they book a room for one day, while Maxie had a look at the escape routes they had to work with. They’d have their luggage taken care of, their lunch delivered to them hot -

(Of course, it was only a matter of time before the sun ducked behind the building, and the cosy little car park became just...a regular car park.)

...And then Tabitha realised Courtney wasn’t following him.

(She decided that when it did, that was when she’d head for the River Rinse.)

“Actually...I heard that some places are searching bags,” she had said, stopping them before they walked inside, “...Checking passports, background checks...et cetera.”
“What?”
“Why?” Maxie replied -

“...There’s a Rocket scare,” she replied.
“Well, I’m sure we won’t be bothered by...“ Maxie reasoned, picking up his passport that still had the not-so-magic words ‘Richard Grant’ plastered on its pages -
He took one look at it...and turned right back around. The hint of a ‘harrumph’ was there.

(Neither Tabitha or Maxie noticed Courtney slipping out of the front seat and dragging the Camerupt’s beds away across the road. Well...they saw her, yes, but neither said a word - whether that be ‘what are you doing, they’re clean?’ or a ‘thankyou.’)

“Hey, hey, wait - “ Tabitha had gasped, still standing in front of the revolving door, “Where’d you even hear that?”
His hand still rested on the handle.
“I didn’t hear anything about a rocket scare?...”
...And then, gripped it.
“ Courtney? ”
Courtney stopped, and waited - framed by the empty car park. Slowly, she turned around to face him, once she was confident no-one else would hear her.
“...A friend told me, actually.”

“Wait, but - we can’t tell anyone else what we’re doing - you know, in case they decide to go to the cops and turn us in!” he snapped in a quiet, breaking voice - “That’s what Maxie said, right?...”
“This friend wouldn’t.”
“Why?” he laughed bitterly, “Are they being chased by the cops t…”

And then, the penny dropped.

“Ohhhhh.”
“Yes,” Courtney replied, with a smirk usually reserved for Maxie.
“...I...okay. I see.”
Then, with an unreadable look on his face, he nodded and left.

A little while later, the cat woke up.

It lost interest in the old visitor as soon as the bead curtains parted, so without a goodbye it hopped off the chair and padded away. Problem was, this new customer didn’t look even slightly interested in the family pet.

“...Heya.”

...The girl in the doorway smiled weakly at someone else.

“ Courtney? ” Shelly replied, jumping to her feet, “Ah! You’re alive! ” she cried, with that dramatic flair she hadn’t used in weeks now -
“‘Course I’m alive, silly.”
“How’ve you been doing?”
“I’ve been... doing , I guess. You?”
“Well, we’re safer than we were yesterday! ...I think.”
“...Same.”
Shelly paused, patting the seat beside her and waiting for Courtney to join. Shuffling over, her head nodded a little - she had to shake herself to attention and blink a few times before speaking.
“Sorry, I had...a strange night.”
“All good. ...So did I.”
“...What’s the time we’re working with?” Courtney asked, staring out the bright window for a second.
“I’ve gotta head off at noon, so we’ve got...an hour. That’s…”
“That’s fine.”
“Really? There’s a lot of cool tourist spots around here we...might wanna take a look around.”
“Well...I’m sure we can just talk. We’re not tourists, are we?”
“Pfffffft, I wish.”

“Oh, that reminds me - here,” Courtney said, pulling a grocery bag from her backpack, “I bought you some stuff.”
Even though it was made of brown paper, the package looked more...well, not expensive, that’d be untrue, but nicer, cleaner than anything she bought. The sides looked to be on the edge of fraying, bulging and ripping.
“Dude.”
Was that...raisin bread she saw in the bottom of the package?
“Oh, wow - “
Well, there was no mistaking it - the bag was full of things she didn’t know she needed. A bunch of bananas, iced tea, bottled water, chips, even some konpeito to seal the deal.

“You, er said you were going to be driving for a while, so you can make it somewhere by the morning, or...something. And you said you weren’t looking forward to it, so...I thought I might try and help...somehow…”

“Did I say I wasn’t - ”
Courtney nodded while Shelly checked her memory, a smile slowly forming on her face.
“Oh, I did, didn’t I? This is...really helpful, actually - like, I think it’s my driving shift next -”
“You have shifts?”
“You don’t? I thought Max would’ve...ah, never mind,” Shelly finished, cutting herself short to pull Courtney into a light almost-hug, that just grew tighter and more sure when they melted into it too - a silent ‘yes.’
It’s just $20 , Courtney thought, wrapping her arms tight around her friend nonetheless.

“I...I didn’t think you’d do something like this, y’know?” Shelly whispered.

Courtney tried to say ‘you’re welcome’, but words were failing her at the moment. They stayed tangled together for a few seconds more... and then, both came apart and walked to the window, letting the sun shine on them.

“I…” Shelly stammered, “Did you need anything?...”
“Well, you already stopped us from walking into a hotel with the old fake passports, and now Maxie knows there’s a Rocket scare...” Courtney replied, “That counts for something.”
“...Oh?”
“Yep. That’s you.”
Shelly couldn’t help but blush a little.
“Huh. That’s...that’s cool.”

Her voice crossed from excited to worried by the end of the sentence...and her gaze drifted outside, onto the walkways with people scattered on them. The empty spaces between would be enough for two - far more than enough.
The hum of the dryer and the cold light was getting old; for both of them.

“Actually, do you wanna go take a walk around town?” she offered, pointing at the little laminated spreadsheet stuck to the wall, “I’ll make sure don’t get lost,” she continued, shoving the washed clothes into the dryer...
“Yeah, sure, that’d be...wait.”
Courtney paused and looked over to the seats, to her pile of slightly-dirty towels and coats. Her eyes shot wide open like a spooked deer - a spooked deer that suddenly found its situation hilarious.

“Ohhh, that was why I’m meant to be here…”

Meanwhile, Archie lay in a bed of pillows and maps, calmly tracing a route through Johto’s winding roads - while looking out the entrance to the tent every few seconds.
He didn’t want to ignore whoever arrived; no. Matt had just gone outside to pick up some sunglasses, he'd hopefully be back soon, and eager to know what he'd done.

Where was it that Matt always wanted to go, again?...Did he say something once about finding Cherrygrove City peaceful once, on a vacation, or did he actually say that about Ecruteak City? Did Shelly once say she lived in Olivine City as a young girl, or did had she never even stepped in Johto before now? Would it even matter? This wasn’t a vacation, he wasn’t supposed to be having fun, but the least he could do was try, as always…

How long would it take for Matt to come back, again?

Around that time, a few blocks away, Maxie was also surrounded by maps - also completely alone. He had the money to buy two copies; the first one was scribbled over so many times the towns weren’t recognisable, the route names completely gone.

He’d drawn a shaky line from Vermillion City to Pallet Town - the trajectory looked like it would shoot straight off of the map and into Johto, but something in him was saying - no, screaming that was an absolutely terrible idea.

Open borders? Little to no police surveillance? That meant nothing. There would always be something. Like how there was a police checkpoint in the town he specifically chose to be free from police. Like how a Rocket scare happened just as they landed in Kanto. Like how he reversed off a cliff when he specifically wanted to be out of sight.

Consulting Courtney was impossible right now.
Consulting Tabitha would just be seen as needy, weak even - especially after yesterday. He had to be responsible, and this was what responsibility meant...

So, there was only one person left he c ould consult right now: himself. And for the first time in years, that didn’t seem like an option, but there had to be something he could do. Something to prove that he was still in control.

He was on his second map, and already it looked like a multicoloured spider’s web.

Archie had accepted that he wasn’t going to get any work done until someone, anyone came back for him to talk to, or with. He pushed the maps aside, the markers too.

His plan would be ‘Johto, let’s go there and see where’s safest as we go’, at least to the person who walked into the tent. Whoever it was would be grateful, satisfied...well, hopefully.

...What else did they have at the moment?

The phone was temptingly close to him. There was one lifeline he could technically call for advice, any advice -
No. God, no. He almost certainly had Maxie’s number blocked.

Blissfully sort-of-unaware of what their leaders were doing, Shelly and Courtney walked the streets of Cerulean City - not quite hand-in-hand, but close enough to assume they were if you weren’t looking close enough.

For around half an hour now, the pair had been wandering the curving, spiralling city streets, with no goal in mind other than eventually come back to where they were.

The city council had let the riverside reeds grow tall - tall enough for them to run through, by the gentle flow and schools of fish. The gym was closed for now, but the statues outside made for a perfect place for Shelly to stop and rest, chatter about how that place used to be a circus tent. The old bars Courtney performed in had closed up their open mics for good, but the shade was there as always - the blue and yellow lanterns, swaying in the breeze, hung just low enough for them to brush with their fingers as they walked past.
The fountain provided somewhere for Courtney to make a wish on her spare change. (Though she was the kind to think that telling someone about a wish made it not come true, she told Shelly anyway.)

(“I wish for everyone to be fearless,” she told her in a whispered tone - “Especially me.”)
(Shelly didn’t really get her to elaborate on that much.)

“Did you say you used to live ‘round here?” Courtney asked, when they turned the corner onto the main street.
“Yeah, I did, I went here on my gap year!” Shelly replied, drinking in the scenery, “It was an...interesting few months, before we had to move back to Hoenn, of course...”
“We?”
“Oh - me ‘n Archie. And a few other people, we all paid for the one flat...” she confirmed, “I did a lot of volunteer work around the place - making sure Squirtles got to the sea, rescuing Meowths out of trees…you get the gist.”
Courtney nodded, her ears pricking up at the idea of someone doing something useful on their gap year.
“Wasn’t too interesting,” she continued, fading out a little, “...in the end, though…”

“What was it like?...” she questioned.

“Well, it was weird not having anywhere that we really worked . This one time, right - the guys we volunteered for called me up and said ‘you’re working in Cerulean Cave today…’”
“Isn’t that the one with the big weird naked cat? I forget the name - “
“Yeah, that’s what I said! I said, isn’t that the one with the big weird cat? And they said, yes, it’s the one with the big weird cat, but that’s not the one you’re meant to be finding!”
“What was it they actually wanted?...”
“I...don’t think I actually found it...” Shelly replied, .
“Ohhhh, no.”
“But I remember the supervisor telling me I had to find a pink, flying, long-tailed...weird naked smaller cat that rode around on a bubble.”
“Yooo - “

...All this talk of weird cats around town was beginning to really tick off the Meowth walking a few feet behind them.

“Yeaaaah.”
“Oh! Can I tell you about my gap year?”
(The pair turned the corner...and found the River Rinse was one block ahead of them now. Neither of them really acknowledged it, but still…)
(How close was it to noon again?)

In fairness, all Meowth could understand was the word ‘cat’ said a very confused tone, but still! Cat was their name, after all, it was what the laundromat’s owner called them...

“Sure, go ahead - ach!”
“Hm?...”
Like some kind of hungry Sharpedo, the Meowth started batting wildly at Courtney- claws tearing at the...well, basically just at the sneakers she wore while mewing loudly, but still. You got the impression that if the cat were much larger, it could do some actual damage.
“Hey, you - “
Courtney shuffled backwards, straight back into the wall of the River Rinse with a fantasy with one leg in the air - but the cat didn’t take the hint.

“Hang on - here!“
Shelly knelt down and lifted them up by the belly...except like all cats, it stretched like a fluffy spring. Which was still attached.
“Well, someone’s jealous,” she whispered to them -
“ Shellyyy! ”
While she held up the Meowth, Courtney gently flicked the cat’s claws out of her sneaker. It only took a few seconds...but they looked back at her with what could be best described as ‘I will intentionally come back in your greatest moment of need, so you can see that I won’t help you.’
“Pfffhahah... ”
Slowly, she got to her feet - though of course, she couldn’t resist giving the Meowth a pat on the head before sending it on its way.
“You know how people say Pokemon like that don’t really care about you?...” she mused, walking more calmly now, side by side with Shelly…
“Yeah. I’m...a bit sceptical about that. Always have been.”
“Same.”

Maxie had followed suit with his counterpart on the other side of the city, finally - the maps were cast aside, the pens put away in their little case, meticulously as he could.
To the observer, it looked like he had come to a proper conclusion instead of quitting halfway through.
In the end, that was what mattered the most.
He would just take a walk, yes, and by the time he came back, he should be bursting with ideas. That was the whole point of walks.

It was noon already, and Shelly didn’t even notice.

After checking with the owner, her and Courtney’s Mightyena had been finally let out of their balls, ready to scare the cat unintentionally and greet each other the way Mightyena did - by playfighting. Now and then, Courtney or Shelly had to gently pat them to remind them to calm down a little, and all in all…
It’d be easy for them to get up and leave if they needed to.

But, despite everything, they never did. They stayed and talked, and talked - about the stand-up routines that Courtney used to do, the sing-alongs in the car that Shelly swore she was best at, the way that Maxie could kick a lot harder than one assumed (when motivated enough), the ways they hoped they would go, the ways they knew they’d probably go, and of course, how Tabitha drove off a bridge.
Both of them looked at the other and thought; how calm they are.
Strange.

Tightly, Shelly held the bag full of precious supplies against her, waiting for the clock to strike twelve like the famous princess - waiting as the bag felt smaller the more she looked at it.
Still, though, she tried to smile. (It wasn’t hard, either.)

“I once did a whole thing on how Nugget Bridge is basically just called...you know, Balls Bridge,” Courtney was recounting, “and then, and then this one young guy stands up and says....hold on. It’s actually called what?”
“Mmhm…”
“And then a bunch of his friends stand up and say they all thought it was just called that ‘cause of all the gold, and I was thinking... ohhhh ...no…”
Courtney shuffled around to face her but found she wasn’t facing her either. Not that she minded particularly, so -

“Oh! Sorry, I’m listening,” Shelly assured her, turning back quickly.

“Were you...worried about the time?”
“It’s fine,” Shelly protested -
“Well...what a coincidence, I was starting to worry too.”
The two of them both got up, meandering slowly to the door while their two Mightyena followed - the dogs’ tails drooped as they watched their trainer’s voices drop low as well.
“...We could head off?” Courtney continued, leading them both out of the door…

Out the door, right past the TV bolted to the wall, running a constant newsreel as background noise. The headline ‘Hoenn criminals wanted’ hadn’t been clear enough to catch their eyes, and their faces...they looked so foreign now.
They’d picked the most aggressive-looking one of Shelly, one that she didn’t even remember being taken - they’d picked one for Courtney that looked blank with just a tiny, possibly imagined twinge of anger. Both in black and white, and both on opposite sides of the lineup.

The reward was $40,000 for information leading to their arrest - stylised so it looked like it was pasted over an old reward.
The presenter sounded awfully excited.

“Actually, I could just text Archie and say I needed - sorry, was going to be a while longer,” Shelly mused once she was out the door, speaking quicker now, “Maybe I could even say I was meeting up with you...”
“Perhaps…”
“No. That wouldn’t work. It’d be a bit weird to just...say that, you know?”
Courtney nodded gravely.
“I don’t reckon I’ll tell Maxie either,” she said, “not now.”

“But…” Courtney said, now standing in front of the hotels revolving doors again…
“I’ll be online...pretty much all the time, if you want to talk.”

Whoever had said the woods in Cerulean City were full of useless Pokemon was clearly lying. Ahh, the simple joys of training a Pokemon with no fear of fainting, that was Tabitha’s escape at the moment. He’d powered up his Camerupt, his Crobat, his Weezing too, all a good three to four levels each, and now he could come back to…

An empty van.

“I’ll try,” Shelly promised, holding Courtney’s hand tight -
“Oh, no, I’ll be...fine,” Courtney reassured her.
But something was making her pause to reconsider, once again.
“I’ll miss you.”

“Same,” Shelly replied, “This won’t be, like, the last time we ever see each other, though.”
“I don’t know if - “
“If what?”
The reply she got was a strangled gasp.
“Courtney - “
Quicker than she could realise, the person she was talking to disappeared. Shelly turned - Courtney had stepped aside, trying to make it look like they’d just passed each other by as an accident, unplanned, unconnected -

And there on the footpath was Maxie.

“...Hi?” Shelly called out, faltering halfway through.

The singsong voice didn’t appear to affect him.
“Greetings,” he replied, after clearing his throat -

“Well, would you look at that!” Courtney was explaining to him as she led them both closer to Shelly, “...I was walking to the local laundromat and I found Shelly on the way there!…”
“Er...small world, huh?” Shelly continued, shrugging.
“Yeah, what a convenient coincidence!”
“So we thought it’d be nice to walk around town for a bit and catch up, get some chips…” Courtney continued, steeling herself with a deep breath, “...And then we bumped into you!”

“ Another amazing coincidence!”
“Dude.”

“Right. I see what’s going on here,” Maxie said quietly.
(He certainly did see what was actually going on here.)

Shelly tentatively took a step back, waiting for the ‘but’ to come, but...it never actually did.
He looked more stunned than anything, and as Courtney continued to explain what she’d been doing that morning, he kept taking glances back to Shelly - who was now even more tentatively walking forward with them, back to the hotel.
“I...see you guys are doing okay,” Shelly remarked.
“I’d say we are, actually,” came the quick reply - “...Well, good day.”
She could see their van now; beaten up a little and dirty. Come to think of it, if she hadn’t taken a closer look at it, she might have mistaken it for theirs.

Was this where they were living too?

It was Courtney looking back at her, frantically pointing at her phone, that persuaded her to stop.
Yes, she didn’t know something ; at the very least she wanted so badly for someone else to not know either.

The pair drew away, rounding the corner and disappearing.
“Great...seeing...” Shelly called out, to both of them now - but voice cracked halfway through - “Great seeing you two!” she repeated, before backing off, far off.
She couldn’t tell if either of them heard her, but…

Courtney certainly could.
Maxie stopped in his tracks - he turned back where he came, just to see if he was still being followed...but no. No-one stood there waiting for him. No-one’s voice echoed to say they didn’t actually mean it, or somehow just meant for Courtney.

One question remained on his mind, as they both headed for the van, ready to leave this town quickly, maybe quicker now this had happened -

Why?

Courtney leapt back into the driver’s seat, eager to take over and to talk with Tabitha about literally anything else. Maxie was saying nothing, but he wasn’t thinking nothing. As soon as she shut the door, he would find the words to ask -

Why were they so concerned?

The reward had been raised, and that only meant one thing: they’d just been found. Found in old security cam footage of them applying their fragile disguises, found by hotel owners who laughed for a second at the resemblance between their new guests and the idiots of Hoenn, found by tired security checkpoint workers who wanted a raise…
It was inevitable.

Like an animal running faster and faster as the gap between it and its prey closed, the police and their publicists would only pour so much effort in if one of them had slipped up. The call to find them was everywhere, from Hoenn Wire to the Pallete News, and it was no use for either Archie or Maxie to pretend the admins hadn’t seen them too.

It was official: there were reports of Maxie and Archie being seen in Kanto.
And no - they hadn’t been travelling together.

So why weren’t they both running, as fast as they could, as far away as they could from the police and each other, right as he was thinking this?

“Courtney,” he commanded, trying to stay confident - “Hit it.”

Chapter Text

Courtney, when she first heard that she was going to be put in prison for the rest of her life unless she ran away from home with her old leader, was terrified.
...Nothing new.
She’d been terrified when she first got onto the bus to go to high school, and terrified when she took her first exam. She’d  been terrified when she was first made an admin, even...but that didn’t last long.

After she’d walked away from Shelly halfway through a conversation, she’d felt more and more uncomfortable driving like a teenager who’d just stolen their dad’s car - but as always, she needed to help herself.
The best thing to do in this situation, she found, was to turn it into a game. Always take the sharpest turn possible, always ride just above the speed limit - not because the police could actually be behind you - but because that was what always happened on the big screen, right?

Unfortunately, that illusion was kind of broken when she got into a traffic jam.

“Was there a landslide or something?...” asked Maxie, from behind her.
“I can’t see, it’s just cars all the way forward.”
Maxie looked out the back window and saw something directly behind them -
It took one split-second jump out of his seat for him to realise that wasn’t a police car. ...To his credit, no-one noticed.

“Ahh, well,” Tabitha concluded, “That’s fine. That’s just fine. ”
There was a good chance they wouldn’t be recognised, even if it had been a police car - Maxie had put his hair in a ponytail, just like he’d always done in college. Tabitha gave himself a buzzcut worthy of the army, which...looked alright for what he had to work with, shall we say. ...Courtney was the only one that looked the same.

"We get to relax a bit...” Tabitha continued, quietly. He turned on his phone, put on some jazz music he’d saved, tossed it into the glovebox, and sighed. From his bag, he pulled out the three or so magazines he’d been able to take with him and started reading, feet kicked up on the dashboard.
He didn’t question it when a hand reached out from the back seat and took a copy of Contest Today - which quickly disappeared when he looked.

Meanwhile, Courtney took her eyes off the road, and decided to just press the accelerator when it looked like something moved. Calmly...she rolled the window down.
“Hey, hey, hold on!”
“Hm?” Maxie questioned, completely unaware of what all the fuss was about as Tabitha grumbled and struggled to keep his magazine fluttering away like a flustered bird as a gentle howling sound filled the van. So did a bit of stray rain.
“Look, can I just wind them up a tiny bit - ” Tabitha continued, leaning over to take the hand-crank Courtney just let go of…and bumped into her back instead.

“Oh. O-kay, then.”

Like a meerkat scouting the plains, Courtney had leant out the open car window to see the dizzying drop just to the right of her van. Instead of hitting the front seats, the light rain and wind landed on her face, giving her the wake-up call she needed.
Truth be told, she’d taken this driving shift so she could distract herself, but...ironically, not driving appeared to be doing a better job at that.
“Do you wanna swap magazines?” Tabitha could be heard asking.
“...Maxie?”
“Ah, yes, here - “

It wasn’t the temporary traffic light changing that eventually told her to move - it was the raindrops on the rocks turning green. Without looking back inside, she inched forward a little, then a little more, waiting for the slightly bigger van ahead of them to move -

And then someone ahead of her looked back.

It wasn’t intentional, no - that much she could tell.

But it didn’t take very long for the person ahead and the person behind to recognise each other - there, leaning out the front window just like she was, was a woman with wind-tossed blue-streaked hair blowing in her face.
They were too far away from each other to read lips perfectly, and for obvious reasons they couldn’t speak up...but they could try. That was enough.
It began with Courtney?
It continued with a muttered yep, that’s me -
It kept going still, when Courtney realised it wouldn’t matter if anyone noticed her waving, and it finished with Shelly giving a tiny, tentative wave back - before rounding the landslide and driving away.

Tabitha heard the driver sighing deeply, as the temporarily traffic light turned red again.
...Probably because of the traffic jam.

Archie looked up, as anyone would, when the car started moving again.
Like Shelly was doing right now, he looked behind him, and just before they rounded the landslide and drove out of sight -
He was sure he caught a glimpse of a woman with short lavender hair, leaning out the side of a little white van.

“So on the way up to the place where I’m meant to be doing the interview,” Matt was currently recounting to him, “I suddenly feel the elevator...hm?”
“...Ach, it’s nothing,” Archie said, turning back to him, “...Just thought I saw someone.”
“Well,” Matt replied, grinning, “no shit, you saw someone! ”

By the time they all finally stopped in Pewter City, Shelly was more concerned with...let’s just say ‘resting her eyes’ on the steering wheel without pressing any of its buttons. ...Although perhaps the airbag would be nice.
“Shelly?...” came a quiet voice from the back, “You all good”
She turned her head around, and blasted the horn on the way - “Not sure,” Shelly replied, getting up, sorting out the cricks in her neck and back - and in the corner of her eye, Archie flinched. Noticeably.

“Hm?...Hey, I can break my own neck whenever I want to, thankyou very much!”
“Well, don’t do it yet,” Archie fired back without missing a beat, “Just...hand me the car keys first, and then you can break your neck.”
“Um - “
Shelly and Archie turned around mid driver-switch - to see Matt climbing out of the van.
“I heard about y’all dying, so I woke up...” he murmured, in a voice that hadn’t finished doing that.

“...We’re not dying yet, bro.”

So, hanging around the Pewter Gym they talked, of the huge shopping malls they ran around as children, while Shelly walked laps around the largest rocks. They talked, of how Matt would do as a Cerulean Mermaid, while the street lights flickered on at exactly six o'clock. Archie was pretty surprised to learn that...yes, he’d moonlighted

They talked, while Archie had one eye on the van, and one eye on everyone else.

“So,” he was telling them, “I’ve decided we’re not gonna try and get to Violet City tonight. I know, If we hadn’t had a bunch of late nights before now, we’d have probably been able to…”
“Oh, I’m not complaining...” Shelly said.
“Good,” Archie continued, “I’m sure we all need a break.”
“Well, I could probably keep going for a while - “ Matt suggested quietly -
“Nope,” Archie quickly replied, “Even if we’re on the run, we’re all getting decent sleep. And I don’t wanna be…”
Like Maxie.
“...another stat on those ‘Don’t Drive Late’ ads, you know the ones.”

“Quick question,” Shelly asked, “Where are we all thinking of staying?”
“We’ll…” Archie began…

He began -
When Shelly cocked her head to the side a little, curious - he was still beginning.
To tell the truth, he had plenty of ideas. Route One. Viridian City. The forest outside. Route Twenty-Six. Tohjo Falls. Wherever.
“Hm?”
...None of which seemed any better than the other.
“We could always…” Matt suggested, “...sleep in the van?”

“Nah,” he laughed, “...we’re not doing that,” he added, “I’ll think of something better, alright?”
“Fair enough.”
“Anyway,” Archie finished, turning away and heading to the van, “let’s get going.”
If Matt hadn’t run off so quickly, she might have had a few more questions to ask them.
And only half of them were about the whole...shelter thing.

“I’ll take the wheel, yeah?” Archie offered, tone of voice quickly turning back to normal like a flick of a switch - “And maybe put some music on.”
“Can I pick some?”
“Honestly, if anyone wants to take the speaker and put on whatever, that’s okay…”

...Those questions could wait ‘till a little later.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town - which wasn’t as far as one would think - Courtney circled the city streets looking for a drive thru that was still open. As far as she could tell, she wasn’t up for walking into a restaurant, and ordering, and waiting...all that.
“Do we want...food?” she asked, mumbling a little.
“Hell yeah!” Tabitha answered -
“That would be nice,” Maxie replied, as nonchalantly and unenthused as he could try to sound. All three of them were squished against the left side of the van as Courtney pulled into the drive-through lane nearby, passing straight by the Poke-Mart sign - and the menu on the side of the road. Someone peered out the window to find the first customers of the night -

“Welcome to the Mart, what do you need?”

“I’ll take... ” Tabitha started…
He finished with his finger still in the air, drawing out the ‘take’ until it got a little bit awkward - he frantically looked behind him and squinted, but the menu was just far enough away so he couldn’t read it.
“Hmm.”
“Just ask them for a burger,” Maxie advised him quietly, “...Those are basically universal.”
“Yes, yes, gimme a second -” Tabitha snapped back in a hush (and a rush) - “I’ll take a burger!” he finished, a lot more cheerily.
“...Which one?” said the retail worker, who had his eye on the clock.
Tabitha froze, again.
“The best one.”
The worker paused, and looked up with a smirk.
“...A’ight.”

“I’ll take the ice-cream, Castelia-style... and the Magikarp sushi...” Courtney rattled off, “...If the ice cream machine broke, I’ll just take the Rage Candy Bar.”
“I’ll have two black coffees,” Maxie followed.
“That’s everything?”
“Actually,” he added, leaning forward so he didn’t have to raise his voice, “Can you add the largest box of chips?” Tabitha and Courtney looked back in confusion at first - then saw Maxie’s smile and realised who all that was meant for.
“And a large ice tea, with three straws.”

“We deserve to spoil ourselves a little ,” Maxie commented.

“Spoil?... Oh, right,” Tabitha muttered - “Yeah, we do! ”
Thoroughly confused, the worker took the cash from the three customer’s hands and watched them drive away, back in conversation already.

“Was it you that suggested we had a pizza party,” Maxie asked Tabitha, and checked the worker was well out of earshot, “...after we caught Groudon?”
“I reckon it might’ve been,” came the reply, “I remember you saying no.”
“Indeed I did,” Maxie reminisced, “But I’ve changed. I’m more…’chill.’ I’m, er...retroactively approving it, effective tonight. Once we get to Pallet Town...we celebrate.”
“A bold move, sir,” Tabitha replied, with an exaggerated formal air.

“I’d say it’s an achievement we’ve gotten this far, considering...” Maxie murmured as Courtney drove forward. He leant forward to take the two cups of coffee, carefully taking them one by one...
And then, he felt his hair brushing against something.
Wait.
He connected the dots in less than a second; his ponytail had come out. At some point. His hair was - must’ve been - in the signature ‘M’ shape now, or maybe it had been for -
“Have a nice evening, mister!”
Mister? Why the sudden formality? Was that even formality at all?
And while Maxie was going back into his seat, he could swear - on his life if you asked him right then...that the worker’s eyes followed him, all the way back to his seat.
And then they went to Courtney. And then they went to Tabitha. And they possibly, definitely also connecting the dots as they -

“...Considering what?”
Maxie tried to blink the idea away.
“Oh, considering everything that’s happened,” he finished, “But not to worry!” he continued with a bit of sudden flair as Courtney drove away, “We’re on the ‘home run’ as they say…”
It...partially worked.